Maltese Apostolic Vicar in Libya returns to diocese

Del 11 marzo 2006 da Times of Malta

Mgr Sylvester Magro is back in the Libyan city of Benghazi three weeks after his diocese was attacked and ransacked in the wake of the satirical cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. The Maltese Apostolic Vicar of Benghazi in Libya was forced to remain in Tripoli due to the attacks on Western and Christian establishments. Under watchful eye of the police, Mgr Magro and the nuns are now clearing up the Benghazi Cathedral which was ransacked, according to Franciscan Minors provincial Fr Paul Galea. The order is responsible for convents in the two Libyan cities. The friars had to be evacuated after a mob attacked and set alight the Maria Immacolata church in Benghazi and neighbouring buildings. Hundreds of young people attacked the Italian Consulate, setting it on fire and reducing it to a heap of rubble after former Italian minister Roberto Calderoli wore a T-shirt depicting the infamous cartoons. Youngsters forced open the church and once inside the building they set ablaze the liturgical vestments, smashed all cabinets and ransacked the place. The sacristy, the bishop's apartment and the convent sustained the worst damage and practically everything was stolen, Fr Galea said. The cars belonging to the bishops and the Franciscan friars were destroyed. All the rooms were broken into, ransacked, looted and set ablaze. Fr Galea said that Mgr Magro was temporarily operating from Jamahiriya Hospital and in the coming days will be celebrating Mass with the Catholic community from the Greek Orthodox Church in Benghazi. "The situation is still tense and the church will remain closed for the time being," he said. The Maria Immacolata church dates back to 1858 but had to be closed with the advent of the 1969 Revolution. In 1976 it was donated to the Catholic community of Benghazi, as a sequel to the Islamo-Christian Congress held in Tripoli earlier that year.

 

 

 

 

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