Fake Catholic priest unmasked after 18 years
A Colombian man who
pretended to be a Roman Catholic priest for 18 years hearing confessions
and celebrating weddings, was exposed on Christmas eve....
Marriages
and baptisms carried out by Miguel Angel Ibarra remain valid but
confessions are not even though the "grace of God acted" on the faithful
who were deceived, the spokesman for the diocese of Cadiz and Ceuta
told AFP.
Ibarra moved to Spain from Colombia in October 2017 and had been in charge of the church in the village of Medina Sidonia, which is home to some 11,000 people, in the southern region of Andalusia.
He had pretended to be a priest for the past 18 years, she added.
Colombian church officials informed the diocese on Dec 13 that it had received a complaint that Ibarra had forged his ordination documents and that after carrying out a "thorough investigation" they had concluded that he had never been ordained, the Spanish diocese said in a statement.
He was ordered to go back to his archdiocese of origin in Colombia, Santa Fe de Antioquia, it added.
The diocese of Cadiz and Ceuta said it regretted that "events like this could overshadow the work of parishioners and ordained priests, who serve the Church every day in an exemplary way".
Like in other increasingly secular European countries, Spain is finding it difficult to attract new recruits to the priesthood in recent years and has had to resort to importing priests, often from its former colonies in Latin America.
The straits
Ibarra moved to Spain from Colombia in October 2017 and had been in charge of the church in the village of Medina Sidonia, which is home to some 11,000 people, in the southern region of Andalusia.
He had pretended to be a priest for the past 18 years, she added.
Colombian church officials informed the diocese on Dec 13 that it had received a complaint that Ibarra had forged his ordination documents and that after carrying out a "thorough investigation" they had concluded that he had never been ordained, the Spanish diocese said in a statement.
The diocese of Cadiz and Ceuta said it regretted that "events like this could overshadow the work of parishioners and ordained priests, who serve the Church every day in an exemplary way".
Like in other increasingly secular European countries, Spain is finding it difficult to attract new recruits to the priesthood in recent years and has had to resort to importing priests, often from its former colonies in Latin America.
The straits
Posts
No comments
Thanks for viewing, your comments are appreciated.
Disclaimer: Comments on this blog are NOT posted by Olomoinfo, Readers are SOLELY responsible for their comments.
Need to contact us for gossips, news reports, adverts or anything?
Email us on; olomoinfo@gmail.com