Philippine cardinal condemns chapel bombing as ‘horrendous sacrilegious act’

A Catholic cardinal condemned a grenade attack on a village chapel during a Bible service that left two wounded in the southern Philippines on Sunday.

The grenade attack happened on Pentecost Sunday at Santo Niño Chapel in Cotabato City at about 10:30 a.m.

Cotabato City is in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao an area that has experienced religious freedom challenges in recent years.

Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, the archbishop emeritus of Cotabato, denounced the grenade attack, calling it a “dastardly bombing,” according to the news site of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

Of the about 20 people in attendance, the two churchgoers injured in the attack were Maribel Abis, 46, and Aniceta Tobil, a senior citizen. Initial reports revealed the attack was by two men riding a motorcycle.

Quevedo called the attack a “horrendous sacrilegious act that cries out to heaven.”