Owerri, 20 January, 2025 / 10:20 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) have condemned a viral video depicting masquerades mimicking Catholic Priests and engaging in a parody of Eucharistic rituals.
In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Saturday, January 18, CBCN President, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji describes the act as a “blasphemous display” that he says undermines the sanctity of the Eucharist and Catholic worship.
“Our attention has been drawn to video clips that went viral portraying masquerades putting on liturgical vestments, mimicking Bishops, Priests and Mass Servers on Eucharistic Procession, and daring to impart blessing with the Monstrance, which only ordained clerics are permitted to do,” Archbishop Ugorji says in the statement dated January 16.
He adds, “The Eucharist, in which Christ our divine Master is fully and entirely present, is at the heart of Catholic worship.”
“Catholics regard it as a very sacred and priceless divine gift to the Church. It is highly regrettable that faceless masquerades chose to make a mockery of the Eucharist by reducing it to an object of entertainment and public ridicule,” the CBCN President says.