Thieves destroy picture of Virgin Mary and Pope Leo XIV after smashing up tabernacle during Catholic school robbery
Thieves shattered a statue of the Virgin Mary and a picture of Pope Leo XIV during the robbery of a Catholic school in California over the weekend.
The burglars ransacked the Holy Innocents Parish Catholic School in Long Beach, smashing up a tabernacle, a storage device for the eucharistic host or sacramental bread, in the process.
Police surveyed the damage after they arrived at the scene on Monday morning, according to CBS Los Angeles. Bibles had been hurled across the room, learning materials had been torn and left on the ground and even pieces of furniture had been completely destroyed.
Patricia Torres, a local parent, told CBS News that she fears that the brutal attack on the holy building could have been a hate crime.
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“I’m concerned. I need to know if there was written on the walls, if there was a hate crime targeted because we’re a specific Catholic setting,” she said. “That’s my biggest concern as a parent right now.”
Tony Tripp, the school’s director of advancement, told ABC 7 that the tabernacle had been broken using the Mary statue.
“The biggest damage that was most surprising was done to the sanctuary where they took the tabernacle out of the sanctuary and tried to break it open,” Tripp said. “We have a large statue of Mary that was from 1958 when the school opened, and they threw it on the ground and took our podium and threw it on top of the statue to break it.”
The school’s internet devices and musical equipment were also destroyed, along with expensive sound equipment.
The school community has been left shaken by the robbery, but eleventh-grader Catherine Cruz told KTLA that the student body continues to pray for the thieves.
“Our message right now is truly prayer,” she said. “They are still created by God, and so we still want to love them, even though they did a terrible thing; we still want to pray for them.”
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help the school pay for the huge repairs that the desecrated chapel needs.
As of February 3, the campaign has raised over $60,000, with one donor gifting over $10,000 to the school.
However, police have not yet confirmed whether any suspects have been arrested in connection with the robbery or what was stolen from the chapel.
Forensic squads have swept the area in a bid to uncover DNA evidence, with Principal Cruz telling CBS News that traces of blood were recovered inside the chapel. Police hope this could get them closer to at least one of the suspects.
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has opened up an investigation into the burglary, according to a statement on X.
“The @CivilRights will open an investigation into this awful crime,” Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, wrote.
The school’s principal also told the broadcaster that, although rocked by the robbery, the school should return to normal operations by Wednesday.
The Independent has contacted the Long Beach Police Department for comment.
