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Church in the WorldCathedral closes after left-wing protesters storm MassMexico Abigail Frymann - 24 November 2007The landmark Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City has been closed indefinitely following an attack by 200 members of the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution during a Mass last Sunday, writes Abigail Frymann. The archdiocese condemned the attack as a "brutal profanation" of Mass and of the iconic building, consecrated in 1667. A statement signed by spokesman Fr Hugo Valdemar said that the building would shut until the authorities guaranteed "freedom of religion and the integrity of the faithful" who attend Mass and until the "sacrilegious criminals who committed this act of terror [were] punished as an example". The protesters, loyal to the party's leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, forced their way into the cathedral and began shouting insults against Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, the Archbishop of Mexico. The archdiocese said that those responsible for the "cowardly act of terror" entered the cathedral by "kicking open the doors, breaking the security barriers, destroying things, scratching the pews and physically attacking the faithful, which caused a panic among those present, which included old people, women and children." Fr Valdemar berated "city and federal officials [who] have failed in their duty to safeguard freedom of religion and the respect for the most cherished sacrament we Catholics have: the Eucharist". The protests represented "an unequivocal expression of religious intolerance and hatred for the Catholic Church". The attackers said they were protesting against the ringing of the cathedral's bells before Mass because, they said, it interrupted the Third National Democratic Convention taking place in the plaza, according to the US-based Catholic News Agency. |
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