On the night of Monday, May 20, a man with an alleged mental disorder crashed his car into the altar of the Nuestra Señora de la Merced parish, in Zúñiga, commune of San Vicente de Tagua Tagua (Chile), causing damage to the access and inside the temple.
According to the portal BioBiothe subject, who would have been motivated by an apparent “mystical delirium”, broke into the church with his vehicle and the presence of police and firefighters was necessary to control the situation, since the tires burned during the impact.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
The man who was involved in the incident was detained by police, and according to the aforementioned portal, his background would indicate that he suffers from a type of delirium, for which he states: “Padre Pio (from Pietrelcina) is coming to look for me.”
The parish priest, Father Osvaldo Rodríguez, told BioBio that he was alerted to the situation by a catechist, who called him after 10:00 p.m. (local time) on Monday to warn him that smoke was coming out of the parish.
“When we arrived at the place, when we turned on the parish lights, there was a lot of smoke and a car that arrived at the main altar,” said the priest. “At first we believed it was a robbery, a door slam, or some type of attack. We were very afraid initially; because we did not know if the person behind the wheel was alive or dead (…) he had mystical delusions,” he continued.
“It is an opportunity to become aware of the sense of belonging, since the temple is part of the history of this town,” considered the parish priest, pointing out that although the parish was founded 100 years ago, the first construction of the temple dates back to the origins of the town of Zúñiga, more than 250 years ago.
Regarding the subject who caused the incident, Father Rodríguez called to “pray for him,” because “he was not in his right mind.”
“We ask God to give him lucidity. Those of us who were there, the vast majority, despite the damage, were moved, because it was clearly not well. We hope in God that he can recover from his condition and can move forward, with the corresponding help,” he expressed.
Juliet Villar
I am a journalist, with a degree in communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non-governmental organizations. Since 2016 I have been dedicated to Catholic journalism, first at the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as ACI Prensa correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.