A statue depicting Jesus Christ has been found decapitated inside a South Florida church, leaving congregants of the house of worship shaken.
Deacon Edivaldo da Saliva of The Good Shepherd Catholic Church in West Kendall told local media that the decapitated statue was discovered Wednesday morning.
“This morning I found it on the ground, and we presume that it is vandalism,” said da Silva.
“We have seen this happening all over the country,” he added.
Deacon da Silva said the church’s surveillance cameras were not facing where the statue was situated and there are currently no clues as to who the culprit may be.
The Archdiocese of Miami said in a statement to WPLG that the church is likely to push for police to investigate the vandalization as a hate crime.
The desecration is the latest attack on statues of Catholic Church figures.
The Chattanooga Police Department is probing the recent beheading of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the St. Stephen Catholic Church. As Breitbart News previously reported, two monuments depicting the Virgin Mary were vandalized in Queens, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts. On Wednesday, a group of Catholics in Boston held a vigil to pray the Rosary at the site of a Virgin Mary statue that had been set on fire.