A VEHEMENT denial that a batch of communion wafers, reportedly infected with an LSD-like hallucinogen that drove the faithful crackers, has been issued by the Catholic Church.
This is Jonathan Ricci, a US citizen who was arrested in 2008 for nicking communion wafers (click on pic for report)
According to this report [in Italian] a normal Sunday mass, in Campobasso, was transformed into “a veritable Dante’s circle” immediately after the Eucharist. The batch of “holy” biscuits handed out in a church in the Italian town was said to contain ergot sclerotium, which may cause hallucinations and attendant irrational behaviour, convulsions, and even death.
The report said that, after ingesting the communion wafers, the faithful went apeshit, with some deciding that the priest, Don Achille, at the Church of the Holy Spirit, was the incarnation of the Devil, and chased him away from “their little darlings”.
One witness was quoted as saying:
I have never seen anything of this kind – and I was at the G8.
A furious spokesman from the Archdiocese of Campobasso-Bojano hotly denied the report, describing it as:
An attack on the Church. We must respect the sacred. This also applies to those who do not believe.
Hat tip: Remigius
Please note: there may be a break in service starting tomorrow as I am in the process of changing my internet provider, and I have been warned that I may be off-line for a period.
‘An attack on the Church. We must respect the sacred. This also applies to those who do not believe.’
I should respect something I don’t believe in???
This sounds like the sort of bizarre story that we should be careful about believing. Give it a little time and I am sure that the details will emerge. The thing is, before we knew so much about the Catholic Church, this story would be instantly dismissed as being too absurd to believe. Now we are awaiting confirmation but would not be at all surprised if it turned out to be true.
Mmm, quackers…
I liked the bit about the priest having to leg it.
OT but in a good cause: The faithful taking a bit of a kicking on comments on the Richard Dawkins’ item on the New Statesmen site. The religionuts began as excitable and numerous as usual but the tide has turned with atheists pitching in. I’ve contributed my tuppence worth.
Hmm, irrational behaviour and hallucinations, buggered if that don’t ring a bell somewhere…
It’s not just criticism for buggering small boys then. Everything is an attack on RCC Inc. But everything is denied – and I thought you got points for going to confession.
Ergot poisoning used to be fairly common, especialy in places where storage conditions were primative,such as keeping the wafers in the crypt for instance, after all, if its the body of christ, its bound to of gone off a bit by now.
@broga – barely tuppence my lad – LINK!!! Where is it?
Their website is shit – I did a search for dawkins and if found nothing!
Agreed, Steve. What on earth is wrong with these people? Is it so difficult for them to fathom the idea that somebody might not feel a cloying devotion to what they themselves do? It’s as if they have no sense of other minds and act with the logic of toddlers – I believe x, therefore it should be so!
Of course, this is to be expected from a body that firmly believes raping and molesting thousands of children was not a big deal. Why they think anybody cares about their denials over this silly story I have no idea.
stargraves:
I believe this is the article being referred to:
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/12/faith-schools-dawkins-minister
stargraves:
Actually, it’s more likely this one:
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/02/tactics-biologist-dawkins
Here is the translation of the original report:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?ref=SERP&br=ro&mkt=en-GB&dl=en&lp=IT_EN&a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.leggo.it%2fnews%2fcronaca%2fostie_allucinogene_i_fedeli_drogati_picchiano_il_prete_e_lui_il_demonio%2fnotizie%2f167235.shtml
Those wafers are very thin. How can there be that much ergot one a single wafer that would work that powerfully in that short a time? Please I would like to know so I can get some!