A French priest who slaped a two-year-old boy for crying during his baptism has been forced to retire

News24xx.com -  A video of the incident in a church in Paris during a ceremony at the Collegiate Church in Champeaux, near Melun, in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris sparked outrage.

At that time, a French priest slap and hit a two-year-old boy for crying during his baptism.

And now, the priest named Father Jacques Lacroix, 89 years old has been forced to retire.  Father Jacques said, "I am finishing my ministry now. There is an end to everything".

On last Sunday, he carried out the bizarre assault. Father Jacques is seen shouting at the boy.

"Calm down, calm down, you must calm down. Be quiet" he said at that time.

But, the boy still cried and suddenly, he squeezing the boy’s face in his hands. The priest then stares at the little boy in the eyes, and slaps him hard on the cheek with his left hand. 

His action prompts the reaction from the boy’s horrified parents and other family members.

Father Jacques told France Info radio on Friday, June 23 2018, "It was somewhere between a caress and a slap, I hoped to calm him down, I didn’t know what to do. But the child was screaming a lot and I had to turn his head to pour water over it."

"I told him to calm down, calm down,  but he was not calming down. I tried to hold him close. I just wanted him to calm down. And now, I apologised for my clumsiness to the family. I am finishing my ministry now, it was my last baptism, there is an end to everything." he added.

Jean-Yves, the Bishop of Meaux, said he had taken measures so that the priest is suspended from all baptism and marriage celebrations. He said Father Jacques had been guilty of a loss of coolness that can be explained but not excused. 

The Bishop said Father Jacques would only be allowed to celebrate mass in the future if this was cleared beforehand.

The parents of that boy have accepted the priest’s apology.

 

 

 

 

 

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