Vandals destroy altar of Catholic chapel in Bari
Vandals destroyed the altar, smashed a statue of the Virgin Mary, and stole church items from a Catholic chapel.
In the Italian city of Bari, vandals ransacked the altar of a cemetery chapel on the eve of its patronal feast, Telenorba reports.
In the morning, parish clergy from the Santo Spirito district arrived at the cemetery to hold a memorial service for deceased parishioners and discovered the aftermath of the attack. The perpetrators had completely destroyed the altar and smashed a statue of the Virgin Mary. The thieves also took an empty tabernacle and priestly vestments from the chapel.
The parish priests described the act as despicable. Fr Fabio Campione, rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit; Fr Tommaso Genghi, rector of St Nicholas Church; and Fr Gianni De Robertis, rector of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary parish, issued a joint statement online.
In their statement, the clergy stressed that the incident had caused deep pain throughout the community during the festive days. At the same time, they expressed their firm belief that hope would triumph over violence and pledged to celebrate the feast with particular devotion.
As the UOJ reported, vandals beheaded a statue of the Virgin Mary on the Italian island of Ischia.
