The church of St. John Calabria Parish of the Catholic Archdiocese of Luanda in Angola was desecrated, with the desecrators making away with two Ciboria after accessing the Tabernacle, the Parish Priest has said.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, July 13, Fr. Lino Aguiar explained the events of July 10, saying, “Our Parish was broken into by some unidentified criminals who desecrated the Church, opened the Tabernacle and removed the hosts, threw them on the floor, and then took two Ciboria.”
The member of the Congregation of the Poor Servants of Divine Providence (PSDP) added that they only came to know about the desecration when they went to the church for morning Mass.
“We called our Superior, Fr. Alberto Sissimo, who advised us that we could not celebrate Mass; that we have to wait for the Bishop to launch the process of reparation,” the Angolan Catholic Priest said.
“The police have been notified and they have already opened an investigation,” he further said, and added, “This is the fourth robbery.”
In the three previous incidents, the PSDP member said, the robbers “did not desecrate the Church; they just opened the safe and collected money from there. This time, they went too far.”
“We call on the people of God to remain calm and to engage in prayers of reparation,” Fr. Aguiar told journalists in Luanda on July 13.
He added, “We also need to pray for the conversion of perpetrators of this act.”