The faithful and priests without masks during a mass.
These images, which we revealed in our video report published on our site on Monday, April 5, we found them thanks to a witness who alerted us via the Parisian site.
It is a feeling of revolt that decided Etienne (
Editor's note: the first name has been changed
) to contact our newspaper on Sunday April 4.
The thirty-something was present at the church the day before, Saturday April 3 for the baptism of a member of his family.
“I hallucinated a bit.
There were very few people wearing the mask.
At no time were barrier gestures respected, ”he tells us over the phone.
Thanks to the link sent by Etienne, we see that the entire Mass was broadcast live on the YouTube channel “Ite Missa Est” and that it was still available online.
On this account active since 2016, which presents itself as the “video channel of the Saint-Eugène - Sainte-Cécile parish”, there are catechism courses and dozens of religious services.
And indeed, on the April 3 program for the 5,900 subscribers: four hours of mass, fully filmed with several cameras.
A ceremony announced on the website of the parish and whose mass booklet corresponds to the conduct of the office visible online.
So many elements that make us think that these images were indeed filmed on Saturday April 3.
We then decide to contact the religious leaders of the parish.
An administrative inquiry
After trying to reach the Saint-Eugène church without success, we turn to the diocese of Paris, which discovers the existence of the video at the time of our phone call.
When the Catholic institution recontacts us, the reaction of the director of communication is clear: “Obviously, during this mass, no health instructions were respected.
We will notify the people responsible and will take action internally.
In the meantime, the video of the celebration disappears from the site, but as usual we had made a copy.
On April 5, televisions and radios opened their newspapers on the information of the Parisian - with our images - and sent their reporters in front of the Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile church.
On April 6, the Paris prosecutor's office launched a preliminary investigation for endangering the lives of others and on April 8, two clergymen were placed in police custody.
On the same day, the religious authorities also opened an administrative procedure to shed light on the case.
VIDEO.
Priests and faithful without masks, no distancing ... A mass without sanitary rules celebrated in Paris
This Sunday, Father Marc Guelfucci, one of the two in custody, refuted "any endangering the lives of others" and denounced a "campaign of denigration of the Catholic Church and its parish".
A statement made during the service obviously ... posted on YouTube.
