Priest Assaulted in Church Sacristy
Father Jean-Christophe Genson of the church of Sainte-Dévote in Monaco was assaulted by an unnamed assailant as he prepared for Mass on the evening of June 9, 2017.
According to witnesses, the catechists of the parish had organized an evening devoted to the Fatima (Portugal) pilgrimage completed by young people of a Catholic school last April. The evening was to consist of the celebration of a Mass at 7pm, followed by a slide show of photographs taken in Fatima, and then a picnic. Around 6:30pm, when the young people began to set up tables outside the church, a stranger asked them what time Mass would be celebrated and then entered the church and went to the sacristy where the priest of the parish, Father Jean-Christophe Genson, was alone preparing for the celebration. The individual began demanding answers to questions about the Vatican and then slapped the priest in the face and threatened to kill him. Emergency services were alerted and quickly arrived at the scene. The priest was taken away by firefighters and did not reappear during the evening, while the attacker was arrested by the police. According to the police, the assailant was "imbalanced and of Italian origin." Reports indicated that he was brought to the psychiatric unit of a hospital. Prosecutors have indicated that they will wait for psychiatric reports to determine the man's legal responsibility for the crime. In Monaco, a Catholic principality, attacking a priest is a serious crime as it constitutes both aggression against a ministerial officer and a person in charge of a public service.
Source: L'Observatoire and Monaco Hebdo