Saltillo, Mexico, Jan 30, 2012 / 12:04 pm
A group of police officers desecrated the Eucharist at a prison chapel in Saltillo, Mexico on Jan. 23 during an unannounced search for weapons.
In the early hours of Jan. 23, federal, state and local police officers, together with members of the special forces, arrived at the prison for a surprise weapons search.
According to the Council of Catholic Analysts, the security forces “opened the tabernacle, removed the ciborium containing the consecrated hosts, and threw it on the ground. The hosts were left broken and scattered all over the floor. “This information was verified by the chaplain in charge of prison ministry for the diocese,” the council said.
The Diocese of Saltillo issued a statement acknowledging the need to maintain security in the prison but criticizing “the disproportionate use of public force, and in this case, the profanation of a chapel, which regardless of whether it had belonged to protestant brethren or to members of another religious confession, would equally have obliged us to issue a protest.”