GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — Catholic authorities report death threats and several acts of vandalism of church property in response to church opposition to several articles in Ecuador’s proposed new constitution.
In the port city of Guayaquil, a group of people was reported to have entered a chapel, grabbed the Eucharistic host (the bread), tore it apart, spat on it and stepped on it. That vandalism was reportedly the third that has occurred in recent weeks as frustrated supporters of ruling socialist party Alianza PAIS lash out at the Catholic church for criticizing their newly proposed constitution.
Similar desecrations were reported in recent weeks at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Nobol and the Church of the Holy Supper in Guayaquil. Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil has received numerous death threats, as has anti-abortion leader Amparo Medina, who recently received a dead rat inside a shoebox with a note attached that said “death to pro-lifers.”
In addition, the president of the Never Impunity Movement has called for the archbishop’s arrest and “preventive imprisonment” because of the church’s opposition to the constitution.
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