Vandal destroys statue of the Virgin Mary in Colombia

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 5, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Early Wednesday morning, a man destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary that stood in a small brick grotto at the entrance to the town of Sopó in the Cundinamarca district of Colombia.

The Marian image was more than 70 years old. A video circulating on social media shows an individual viewed from the back striking the statue of the Virgin.

In a video posted on the town’s Facebook page, the mayor of Sopó, Miguel Alejandro Rico Suárez, said that the attack was committed by “a young man with psychiatric problems, who was captured at the time.”

In the wake of the attack, the mayor called on the people to strengthen their faith “and show all our love for the Virgin.”

The mayor invited the faithful to participate in a Mass that will be offered Jan. 8 at 2 p.m. in the Alpina roundabout “to also bless the new image that will accompany us from this date forward.”

In the same video, Father Luis Javier Boyacá, parochial vicar of the town of Sopó, said that the Divine Savior parish community joins “the cause of the Mayor’s Office of Sopó and the religious sentiments of our town, in reparation for the sacrilege to the most holy image of the Virgin Mary.”

“Although we know she is not there, [the statue] is in fact a representation of her maternal support and protection for our town,” he said.

In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency, the priest said that “believers are shocked by what happened.”

The priest invited the faithful to join in praying the rosary “next Saturday at 6 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Holy Mass in reparation” for the destruction of the image of the Virgin Mary.

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