A Sydney bishop who was stabbed on Monday during a live-streamed sermon yesterday said that he was recovering and forgives his attacker, telling him: “You are my son.”
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was slashed in the head and chest by a 16-year-old suspect, sparking a protest by followers of the Assyrian Christian church in western Sydney.
“I am doing fine, recovering very quickly,” the bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley said.
Photo: AP
The area is a hub for Sydney’s small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria.
Emmanuel has an online following of almost 200,000, and has criticized COVID-19 vaccines and lockdowns, and Islam.
“There is no need to be worried or concerned,” the bishop said in a YouTube video released yesterday, with audio of his voice accompanied by a photograph of him in vestments.
“I forgive whoever has done this act and I say to him: You are my son, I love you and I will always pray for you,” he said. “And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well.”
The suspect was taken to a Sydney hospital after the attack.
Senior police said earlier this week that his treatment was expected to last for several days.
The bishop called for calm after the stabbing sparked angry scenes outside the church.
Hundreds of congregation and community members rushed to the site on the night of the attack.
Some hurled rocks and other projectiles that allegedly wounded about 50 police officers, including one who broke their jaw, and damaged several police vehicles.
“I want you to always be calm,” the bishop said. “We need to be always law-abiding citizens as well. We need to cooperate with the police directives whether it be at a state level or a federal level. We should never forget that we are very blessed to be Aussies, but above all we are Christians and we need to act like it.”
A Sydney doctor who is in contact with the teenager’s family told reporters they were in “shock” and “disbelief about the horrible action their son has done.”
Jamal Rifi said the family had also been unnerved at how quickly the event had been labeled a “terrorist” act, without speaking to the boy or his family first.
The boy’s mother told Rifi that her son had anger and mental health issues.
Rifi said Australia was a diverse community and despite the differences in culture and faith, he had been reassured that so many had called for calm and denounced any retaliation attempts.
“Reciprocal respect is the core that preserves social cohesion,” he said.
New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb said that the teenager remained in hospital and authorities were yet to question him.
Police on Wednesday charged a 19-year-old man in connection with the protest outside the church and have warned that more will be arrested in the next few days.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other