The vandalism took place in the Diocese of Montelíbano (Colombia). They destroyed the images of the Virgin Mary in the La Lucha neighborhood and at the entrance to the municipality of Montelíbano, a sub-region of Alto San Jorge in Córdoba. The diocese has expressed its “indignation and sadness” on this matter last day.
“It causes great indignation and sadness, in this time of joyful hope, the desecration of the images of the Blessed Virgin, collapsing them from their pedestal and totally destroying them,” said Bishop Farly Yovany Gil Betancu, the Bishop of Jurisdiction on 16 December.
In a statement, the Prelate said that the diocese “regrets that these actions of religious intolerance, which threaten freedom of worship, have been repeatedly presented.”
“These acts deeply wound the faith of the Catholic Christian people of the Monteliban community. It must be remembered that religious freedom seeks the good of all, when there is respect for difference and when various manifestations of faith are tolerated; We all have the right to our own beliefs and to express them according to our own traditions and customs, ”he assured.
The Prelate reported that “the corresponding complaint has been filed with the competent authorities” to investigate these events “which demonstrate a flagrant attitude of religious intolerance so that those responsible for this act of vandalism are duly reprimanded.”
“We implore God for the conversion of those who committed this sacrilegious act. We ask all the Catholic faithful of the Diocese of Montelíbano to join in prayer so that those who generate violence with their acts of religious fanaticism change their mentality, and so that these events that hurt the religious feelings of a people rooted in the faith are not repeated. ”, He concluded.