A 59-year old priest in Nicaragua has been injured in a sulphuric acid attack while hearing confessions.
Fr Mario Guevara was taken to hospital to be treated for severe burns to his face, arms, and shoulders.
The alleged attacker, 24 year old Elis Leonidovna Gonn, was detained by people in the cathedral as she tried to escape.
She is now in police custody.
The Archdiocese of Managuas says Guevara, who was admitted to the intensive care unit, is now in a stable condition. He has been discharged and is continuing his treatment at home.
“We deplore this act because we priests are there to provide a service and this pains us very much: that they would attack a priest in this way because they attacked his health,” the Cardinal of Managua, Leopoldo Brenes says.
The reasons for the attack are unknown.
It occurred two days after a man, identified as Ramon Mercedes Cabrera, posted a video on social networks with strong threats against Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes “and anyone who is Catholic.”
Cabrera also says on the video that he has the “support of the Front” (Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN), the ruling party.
It is not known if the attack had any connection with Cabrera’s video.
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