After a video of a priest hitting an infant during the child’s baptism ceremony gained momentum on social media, the man of God has been banned from attending all important rituals such as marriage, celebrations, and baptisms.
The video of the priest became notorious, first on Reddit and Facebook, but it was soon shared to other sites as well.
Millions of viewers were enraged by the footage material and raised their voices against the priest daring to slap such a small child.
As a result, it did not take long for the man to be identified as the 89-year-old French Father Jacques Lacroix, who was suspended from most of his duties to the church.
On Friday, Meaux Dioceses released an official statement explaining the priest was probably so tired that at one point he lost his temper and this is why he slapped the little boy. He then apologized to the family at the end of the ceremony.
Furthermore, the officials added that even though the priest was probably overworked, his behavior was still inexcusable.
Just one day after the video went viral, all necessary measures were quickly taken so that the disgraced Father Lacroix was relieved from his activities in the church.
The priest was also prohibited from intervening with the Collegiate Church of Champeaux and was allowed to celebrate masses only at the express request of the parish priest.
The 89-year-old Lacroix appeared on a program of France Info radio on Friday, where he talked about the incident.
Imagine a priest slaps your baby during a baptism. Absolutely SHOCKING! I need to see the whole video. pic.twitter.com/35Dgb4f7Xh
— ANNIE DREA (@AnnieDreaXO) June 21, 2018
He stated: “The child was bawling and I needed to turn his head so I could pour the water. I was saying ‘be quiet,’ but he wouldn’t calm down.”
The priest then explained the child would not calm down while he was trying to pour down the water, so the slap followed.
He also claimed he did not know what he was doing at that moment.
