The priest was conducted mass when he was attacked and stabbed
A priest at the church of Christ the Good Shepherd in the Sydney suburb of Wakeley has been stabbed during a service at the church. The attack, which was captured on a live broadcast, took place on Monday evening in front of a terrified congregation.
The priest, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, was delivering mass at the church when his assailant, dressed in black, attacked him with a knife. Three others were injured during the incident. At this stage, no-one has died.
Officers have arrested the attacker and are questioning him.
Bishop Emmanuel gained a huge following on social media and notoriety for speaking out against the pandemic’s social restrictions and vaccine mandates, which he described as “mass slavery.”
“Are we humans? Because we are being treated like animals,” he asked in a sermon in 2021.
“They are encouraging people to go and take vaccine and stay at home. They have had enough.”
Reporting of the incident refers to him as an “anti-vaxxer.”
The attack comes just two days after another terrifying stabbing incident in Sydney. Six people, including the attacker, Joel Cauchi, were left dead after a rampage at Westfield Bondi shopping mall.
After initial suggestions that the attack might be terror-related, it appears the police are now treating the incident as one in which women were specifically targeted. The majority of the victims were women.
It has now been revealed that Cauchi worked as a male escort and that he stalked other shopping centers in the run-up to the fatal attack. His search histories have apparently revealed a fixation with killing which suggest the attack was planned.