Brazilian Cardinal D. Orani Tempesta, Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, was attacked on the night of Friday, May 12, in the northern part of this city. This was the third time since 2014 that D. Orani was robbed under very similar circumstances.
A priest was returning from a mass he had celebrated in Bangu, in the western part of Rio de Janeiro, and was attacked by several armed men on Avenida Brasil, the main road connecting other states with Rio de Janeiro and areas on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. de Janeiro. city during the time of Bras Filho, in the northern zone. The assailants, heavily armed, surrounded the car of Bishop Orani Tempest, Sorrento, forcing him to stop, and forced the cardinal and the driver to get out, running away with the car and leaving two in the middle of the road.
In a statement released this Saturday, the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro added that the thieves, in addition to the car, took cell phones, watches and other belongings of D. Orani and his driver. The attackers also took away a bishop’s ring, a staff (bishop’s staff), vestments used in religious ceremonies, and books.
In July 2015, the Cardinal Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro was attacked under similar circumstances. D. Orani was also returning that day from a mass held in the Campo Grande area, in the western zone, when the car in which he was traveling with a couple of friends and a driver was surrounded by armed thieves on Viaduto de Quintino, in the northern zone, and the robbers took it, like all things.
Less than a year earlier, in September 2014, the cardinal had already been attacked again, this time as he was driving from the Sumare district to Gloria, in the southern part of the capital Rio de Janeiro, when the car he was driving along with a photographer, a seminarian and a driver, was intercepted by armed thieves in the Santa Teresa area, in the city center, while the attackers took cell phones from everyone, another D. Orani episcopal ring, a necklace and a silver crucifix that Pope Francis proposed to him. At the same time, one of the robbers recognized D. Orani as the head of the Catholic Church in Rio de Janeiro and asked for forgiveness for the robbery, but he did not refuse the robbery.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha This Correspondent in Brazil
Source: CM Jornal
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