Senegalese Church Desecrated, Consecrated Hosts Stolen, Priest Calls for “conversion”

He added, “We think that the robbery took place on Sunday night or Monday morning.”

After the alert from the parishioners, Fr. Manga recounted, “We went on site to ascertain the facts before informing the Bishop and the Mayor of Marsassoum.”

“We noticed that the doors of the church and tabernacle were broken by the vandals and some sacred objects were stolen. There has been desecration,” the Parish Priest said.

According to the Senegalese Cleric, “The criminals obviously took advantage of the curfew put in place as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic but also of the distance separating the presbytery and the parish church, which is almost 2 km” to carry out the robbery.

Fr. Manga has called for serenity and prayers among the faithful saying, “We call on the people of God to remain calm and to engage in prayers of reparation. We also need to pray for the conversion of perpetrators of this act.”

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Police officers who visited the parish following the incident have opened an investigation to find the culprits.

The incident has drawn reactions on social media with some posting their sentiments on Facebook.

“Father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing,” commented Guy Faye.

“Who could have done such a thing?” Joséphine Diène probed and continued, “May God have mercy on them. They could have asked the priests for food instead of stealing from the church tabernacle.”

According to Frederic Diop, “These thugs don't even care about covid-19; where are we heading to? God is watching.”

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.