Thieves stole several items from a Catholic church in Ciudad Frontera, Mexico, and threw them on the floor and stepped on the Eucharist.
Newsroom (17/07/2023 15:00, Gaudium Press)
Bishop Hilario González García of Saltillo, Mexico, expressed his “sadness and indignation” and excommunicated the thieves who stole several objects from a Catholic church in Ciudad Frontera, Coahuila state, Mexico, and threw them on the floor and stepped on the Eucharist.
In a statement released on July 7, the bishop said:
“Once again, with sadness and indignation, I inform you that today, at dawn, they forcibly entered the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows […] in Frontera, Coahuila, Chapel of the Parish of the Incarnate Word. In that chapel they stole the financial offering that was in a safe and part of the sound equipment. However the most serious, and at the same time painful, is that a sacrilegious act was committed. The Holy Eucharist was improperly removed from the Tabernacle, thrown on the floor and trampled on.
“As Diocesan Bishop, I declare, in accordance with canon 1211 of the Code of Canon Law, that this fact is an insult to the Sacred Place [the Temple] and a Sacrilege against the Sacred Eucharistic Species. Therefore, whoever has perpetrated it, if he is a Catholic, has committed an offense against the Sacraments and has made himself deserving, according to the law (canon 1382 §I – CIC 2021 / canon 1367 – CIC 1983), of the Excommunication Latae Sententiae. As appropriate, I will communicate it to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“Canon 1211 states that in sacred places violated by actions gravely injurious to them, it is not lawful to exercise worship in them until the injury has been repaired by means of a penitential rite according to the norms of the liturgical books. The act of reparation is to be presided over by the Diocesan Bishop or by a Delegate, and on this occasion I have appointed the Most Reverend Monsignor Néstor Daniel Martínez Sánchez for this act.
“For the grave fault committed against Our Lord, I invite all the faithful to unite in prayer, performing acts of reparation and fostering love for Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. I also invite the faithful and, in particular, parish priests to take great care to ensure the safety of the Holy Places”.
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Compiled by Florence MacDonald
