Catholic priest draws backlash for allowing procession of Hindu deity in church

A Catholic priest in North Africa has offered his resignation after he drew some backlash from church officials over his decision to allow a Hindu procession into the local cathedral.

Vicar General Father Juan José Mateos Castro was admonished by church officials for allowing the Hindu community of Ceuta and Melilla, on the coast of North Africa, to parade an image of the Hindu deity Ganesh inside the local cathedral on Sunday.

According to Crux, the Hindu community only intended to leave a floral offering outside the door of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Africa and had no plans to take part in an interreligious event. However, Mateos reportedly opened the doors for the deity to be carried in a procession towards the altar, where the group was openly welcomed by the vicar.

A video was posted on YouTube showing how the Hindu deity was first venerated at the door of the church, with the Hindu community singing a salve intended for the Virgin Mary.

A member of the Hindu community reportedly grabbed a microphone and said that Ceuta is "the only place in the world where two different cultures, two different religions come together to pray to the god Ganesh and of course to our Patroness."

On Monday, the bishop of the diocese issued a public apology for the incident, saying the event should not have been allowed, noting that it might have caused "pain, confusion or scandal in the Christian community."

In the statement, Bishop Rafael Zorzona Boy thanked the Hindu community for their respect, but he maintained that the cordial relationship Catholics enjoy with Hindus and other religions present in Ceuta, "forces us to be increasingly more faithful to our Christian tradition."

The note from the diocese also indicated that the Mateos has presented his resignation as Vicar General of the diocese, which was accepted.

The statement said that Mateos "acknowledges that it was a mistake to allow the entrance of these images" and that he did not intend to "venerate anything outside of our only and true God." The vicar's intention, according to the diocese, was only to "welcome the sign of respect that the Hindu community wanted to offer towards the Christian community and the Patroness of Ceuta."

However, some Hindus are now reportedly calling on Pope Francis to reinstate the vicar. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who serves as the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that he was shocked to learn that Mateos was punished by the diocese for promoting brotherhood and co-existence.

In a statement issued in Nevada on Wednesday, Zed called on the Metropolitan Archbishop of Seville Juan José Asenjo Pelegrina to revisit the issue and reprimand the Diocese of Cadiz and the bishop of Ceuta.

The Hindu statesman said that he hoped that Zorzona Boy understood that: "Broader and more inclusive understanding of religion was needed as no religion was an island. We should learn to see interconnections and interdependencies between religions."