Argentina – Members of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) have disrupted an interfaith service commemorating the Holocaust in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires. As members of the Catholic and Jewish faiths joined in a ceremony to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht when Hitler unleashed his Nazi followers on Germany’s synagogues and Jewish businesses, SSPX supporters stormed the cathedral and began to chant and pray loudly to drown out the event. Pamphlets were distributed demanding the removal of “followers of false gods [from] the sacred temple”.
Present during the disturbance, Archbishop Mario Poli of Buenos Aires called for calm and reassured the Jewish representatives: “Let there be peace. Shalom. Dear Jewish brothers, please feel at home, because that’s the way Christians want it, despite these signs of intolerance. Your presence here doesn’t desecrate a temple of God. We will continue in peace this encounter that Pope Francis always promoted, valued and appreciated so much.”