The government and the Church unanimously condemn the attack on the Santo Niño chapel

The assault dates back to May 19, Pentecost Sunday. Two men on a motorcycle threw a grenade during the service. Marybel Atis, 40, and Rosita Tubilo, 65, were hit by shrapnel, suffering several injuries. Card Quevedo: “ruin” attack and “sacrilegious act.” I appeal to the authorities to ensure justice is done.

Manila () – From presidential leaders to the main figures of the Catholic Church there is unanimous condemnation of the grenade attack that took place on Pentecost Sunday, May 19, against a prayer chapel in Cotabato, in the south of the Philippines . The target of the attack was the Santo Niño Chapel in Barangay Rosary Heights 3, where a Bible reading was being held. According to the first reconstructions, two men on a motorcycle threw a grenade at the place of worship, hitting two worshipers present at the time of the service: Marybel Atis, 40, and Rosita Tubilo, 65, were hit by some splinters and suffered. several injuries.

Commenting on the incident, Card. Orlando Quevedo, archbishop emeritus of Cotabato, speaks of a “vicious attack” and a “horrendous sacrilegious act that cries out to heaven.” For the cardinal, it is a “crime that deserves the most severe condemnation” because it was committed against simple faithful “gathered to worship God in a sacred place.”

The cardinal, who is also a representative member of the Christian communities in the Council of Leaders of the Autonomous Region of bangsamoro in Muslim Mindanao, a troubled region where a power struggle is underway ahead of the 2025 vote, calls on authorities to ensure justice for victims. “I call on our security, military and investigative forces,” concludes the note from the archbishop emeritus of Cotabato, “to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”

The Manila government’s condemnation was also immediate and unanimous. The grenade attack on a Catholic chapel in Cotabato City was a “direct attack” on religious freedom, the “commitment of the Filipino people to the practice of worship,” and “peaceful coexistence,” as Carlito Galvez Jr. noted. Presidential Advisor for Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (Opapru) then recalled how the raid occurred on the occasion of Pentecost, a day full of meaning for Catholics. “We extend our condolences,” he concluded, “to the families of those injured in this incident and wish them a full and speedy recovery,” while the attack will not undermine the government’s commitment to pursuing lasting peace in the region.

Words that are not enough to calm the fears of a Catholic community already subjected to bloody attacks in the area in the recent past. The memory of the bomb that exploded in a church in Marawi last December, hitting a symbol of peace and coexistence and marking with blood the beginning of Advent. Four people died from the explosion of the device during mass, dozens were injured in an attack claimed in the following days by the Islamic State, active in the area. Interviewed by , Father Sebastiano D’Ambra, an 81-year-old PIME priest who has been in the Philippines since 1977 and knows in depth the Muslim groups (including armed ones) active in the south of the archipelago, explained that the attack was related to “clashes” between the military and groups linked to Daesh or allies. With this “indiscriminate action, they would retaliate and also gain the visibility they sought.”