The Archdiocese of Bogotá called for respect for religious venues and celebrations in the country, after a group of hooded men interrupted a Sunday morning mass in the capital's Primate Cathedral with harangues against the Catholic Church.
The archbishopric joined in the rejection of various sectors of society to the act that was classified by its directors as a 'performance', which sought to criticize the institution and the State, and which ended in a struggle with some of the parishioners, as recorded in videos that were shared on social networks.
“The Cathedral staff and officers of the National Police took charge of the situation and took these people outside the temple, without any violence or vandalism. The Church calls for respect for religious venues and celebrations that are part of the life of all the Colombian people,” the Archdiocese said in a statement.
He also invited the search for appropriate scenarios to carry out such expressions so that citizens can “be heard”, while respecting the rights of others “including the right to profess a religion and perform acts of worship in peace and harmony”.
For its part, the District called on the National Police and the Attorney-General's Office to investigate those responsible for the events and determine whether they committed crimes against religious sentiment, such as those established in articles 201, 202 and 203 of the Penal Code, which address: “Violation of Liberty Religious”, “Impediment and Disturbance of Religious Ceremony” and “Damage or Grievance to Persons or Things Destined for Worship”.
“From the very moment they occurred, the Government Secretariat, the Local Mayor's Office of La Candelaria and the Police went to the scene to give and provide all the necessary support and support to the representatives of the Cathedral and the Archdiocese of Bogotá,” said the Secretary of Government, Felipe Jimenez Angel.
These events generated dozens of reactions on social networks, including from different politicians in the country. The protesters read messages in which they questioned several of the conjunctural situations surrounding the Colombian community.
“Peace? What peace are we talking about? When we forget to love each other. The peace of the secular country of ideological impositions. The country that annihilates the hopes of the peoples. That weeps the blood of sisters and brothers. This is the first performance of RAR”, is read in one of the trills in which a young woman is seen standing on one of the benches of the cathedral. The woman, with a piece of paper in her hands, read that same message.
“We shout and poetize in the face of the unjust, they have fire in their weapons, we fire in their hearts.” Precisely, before the viralization of the video of the controversial protest, that profile of that social network warned of its realization. “We will walk this path together from the street and dignified anger, from academia and reflection, from art and collective creation, our struggle continues to grow day after day”, the account also appears under the classification of 'restricted'.
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