Act of reparation to be held for profanation of Cathedral in Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb 28, 2008 / 00:40 am

This Friday a group of Catholics in Argentina will hold an act of reparation for the profanation of the Cathedral of Buenos Aires carried out by the Mothers of the May Square--an association of women whose sons and daughters went missing during the military dictatorship of 1976-1983—and a group of vandals.

Organizers said the ceremony would include the recitation of the rosary in an atmosphere of “silence and profound prayer that God may forgive our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.”  “If the doors of the Cathedral are closed, we will pray the rosary in the atrium, mindful that God is present there too, listening to us with the heart of a Father.  If they are open, we will pray before the Blessed Sacrament,” they said.

They called on those who plan to attend not to respond to the possibility that protestors might show up, “since to do so is to fall into their plans to disturb an act of piety with hatred, which leads to nothing good.”

Last January 29, six women from the Mothers of the May Square, led by their president Hebe de Bonafini, occupied the Cathedral to fast in protest of the lack of state funding for housing in Buenos Aires.  Bonafini told reporters that since the bathrooms of the Cathedral were closed, the women relieved themselves on the floor behind the main altar. 

Bonafini is renowned for her anti-Catholicism. On one occasion she publicly expressed her desire for the death of John Paul II, and after he died, she said the Pontiff would “go to hell.”  She has also praised the September 11 attacks on the United States.