Numerous social media users were outraged when a video clip of a priest hitting a baby found its way to the Internet recently.
The 43-second footage shows the religious servant slapping a crying infant during a baptism. The video first gained attention when it was shared on Reddit but was later quickly distributed to other sites as well.
One of the viewers apparently recognized the place caught on camera because he claimed the incident happened in France.
In the shocking video material, a woman is holding a young restless child in her arms, while the priest is speaking and grabbing the child’s head.
At first, it seems the man is trying to console the crying infant, but at one point, he loses his temper and slaps the little one across the face.
The young man and woman in the video, who supposedly are the parents of the little boy, seem utterly surprised by what the priest did, as their son begins to cry louder after the slap.
Meanwhile, the boy tries to free himself from the priest’s grip, and he finally succeeds with the help of the man standing nearby.
When the video hit the Web, it is was not known where this took place or when. It also remained unclear what provoked the religious servant to hit the young boy, but the footage raised a wave of backlash on social media.
Many reacted by saying the priest did not deserve his position in the church and he was deemed as “the devil in disguise” by commentators.
The video was quickly watched more than 150,000 times on YouTube and gained an even greater amount of viewers on Facebook and Twitter.
After a few days, it was revealed that the priest was an 89-year-old man named Jacques Lacroix and he was suspended for his actions. However, the suspension only concerns marriage and baptism ceremonies.
The parents have revealed that the video caused them a lot of pain and they have reportedly received some threats.
They have also decided to file a formal complaint against the priest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTEnJLIwkic
