The New Church of Caniçal was the target of a robbery yesterday morning.
The New Church of Caniçal was the target of a robbery yesterday, with around 6 thousand euros in contributions from the faithful being stolen as part of the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy.
To DIÁRIO, parish priest Élio Gomes explains that they only realized the theft in the morning, at 10 am., when they arrived at the location: “Around 12:30 am. we closed the doors and nothing was destroyed.
Monday morning, at 10:00/10:30 am. when a funeral was going to take place, I found that the doors showed signs of attempted entry using tools, and one, that they entered and gained access to the church, and the office. They damaged the wooden doors, a window and took some money from the party.”
The priest in charge of the parish says he can’t pinpoint the exact value of the offerings and donations, but they were around 6,000 euros. “They took this money. It hadn’t been counted yet, but I was expecting close to 6,000 euros in change and notes. There may be this or a little more.”
The Public Security Police (PSP) were immediately called and took charge of the incident.
“I didn’t touch anything, they rummaged through the drawers. We tried to put it in a safe place, at least somewhere we thought was safe because the doors were locked. The first thing I did was contact the PSP, who then contacted the experts from the [Judicial] Police, who were already here to collect fingerprints.”
Caniçal recently celebrated the festival in honor of Our Lady of Mercy, the most famous in that parish.