Ciborium stolen and Eucharist desecrated in chapel in Nicaragua

ACI Prensa Staff, May 26, 2023 / 11:00 am

During the early hours of May 24, unidentified persons desecrated the chapel of Our Lady of Fatima in the small settlement of Campuzano, situated roughly halfway between Managua and Masaya in Nicaragua.

In a statement, St. Ann Parish, located in the town of Nindirí to which the desecrated chapel belongs, reported that “the sacrilegious act consisted of forcing open the secured door and removing the tabernacle from the chapel, forcing open the tabernacle to steal the ciborium, outraging the Consecrated Species.”

The Hosts, according to the parish, “were abandoned in a property near the chapel.”

The parish held an act of reparation yesterday afternoon followed by the celebration of Holy Mass.

On the chapel’s Facebook page, along with the photos of the destruction, it reads: “They can desecrate our churches, break our images, but our faith always remains in Jesus Christ who made heaven and earth. All hail to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

This desecration adds to the more than 500 attacks that the Catholic Church has suffered in the last five years under the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, which have been compiled by the lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.