Grenade thrown at Philippine cathedral

January 11, 2010

For the second time in three months, a grenade has exploded at the cathedral of the Vicariate Apostolic of Jolo in the southern Philippines. No one was injured in the blast, which took place before the first Sunday morning Mass, though some of the cathedral windows were shattered.

While 81% of the nation’s 88.7 million people are Catholic, the Jolo area is heavily Muslim: fewer than 3% of the area’s 1 million residents are Catholic. Jolo's previous ordinary, Bishop Benjamin D. de Jesus, was slain in front of the cathedral in 1997.

 

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Further information:

• Grenade explodes at Jolo cathedral (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Grenade explodes at Philippine cathedral (CWN, 10/27/09)