The priest apologized after removing the masks and claimed that they were just “a business”.
On Flower Sunday, 60-year-old priest Rolando Peña tore off the masks of at least two parishioners on the face, arguing that using them is “nonsense” and that they are just a business.
The incident took place in the municipality of Corquín, Copán department, and was published by the TV channel Copán Sur, which was later broadcast by Honduran media and social networks, according to an El Comercio publication.
“Let’s not lose our culture, our religion. Look, I’m looking at all this nonsense, go … ”says the priest as he took off his masks from the faithful and threw them away.
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“(…) It’s a business,” says the priest, and then warns that he will not allow people who use it to enter the masses. Immediately, the people present continue to remove the mask.
The priest was identified as Rolando Peña, 60. Pictures Illustrative and non-commercial image / https://bit.ly/3sLm1ol
The priest, dressed in a red box, according to the mandate of the liturgical calendar for Holy Week, boasted that he went without any protection against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Look how I’m going, leave … Take him out, let’s go free, let’s discover ourselves,” he says. “I’m not leaving here until the masks are removed,” he added.
On Monday, interviewed by the HCH channel, priest Peña justified his attitude by “his way of being” and said that he was just joking.
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“We must trust God. I use this shit (mask), but that won’t save me from cancer, anemia or any other disease. People misinterpret the things they say, “he said, according to an El Comercio publication.
“If someone has been affected, I apologize, but it’s my way of being,” he insisted.
On Monday, in an interview, the priest apologized for this. Pictures Illustrative and non-commercial image / https://bit.ly/3sLm1ol
Darwin Andino, the bishop of the Diocese of the West, to which the Corquín temple belongs, clarified that the priest “does not have the authority” to force the parishioners to violate biosecurity measures.
“If he does not want to use the mask, he should not use it, but people should use it because there is a contagion,” the bishop added in statements to the local press.
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With about ten million inhabitants and a sub-register of samples, the Central American country has over 187,000 cases of Covid-19 and four thousand 600 deaths.
The Catholic Church in Honduras has summoned parishioners to the Holy Week holidays with measures of biosecurity and physical distance in temples, while suspending the processions for fear of contagion.