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What was supposed to be a moment of joy and rejoicing turned into a tragedy: a baby died while being baptized.
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The incident occurred on Monday, February 1, in the city of Suceava, in Romania, and the Orthodox Church, which was the one that carried out the ceremony, is at the center of the controversy.
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What happened
As part of its religious services, the Orthodox Church baptizes children by dipping them three times in a row in holy water.
So things, and following tradition, a priest from Suceava proceeded to baptize the child, barely 6 weeks old.
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Things, however, did not go as expected: the baby suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest in the middle of the ceremony, for which he had to be transferred from the emergency room to a hospital.
Upon arriving at the medical center, he had already passed away.
The autopsy found that the boy had fluid in his lungs.
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The critics
Once death was known, the controversy centered on the way in which the baptism is carried out in the Orthodox Church.
Immediately, a petition was made on the internet asking to change that the babies are submerged in water.
“The death of a newborn from this practice is a great tragedy. This risk must be discarded for the joy of baptism to triumph ”, reads the petition, which has been signed by more than 56,000 people.
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Paul Palencsar, theologian and priest, told ‘Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’ that the canon of baptism dates back to the 1st century and that he does not know if this represents “contemporary realities.”
“Before, those who were baptized were adults. Now, they are fragile newborns and a single fraction of a second of neglect is enough for the outcome to be tragic ”, commented.
In addition, he added that the Orthodox Church has issued new protocols for baptizing, “but not all priests comply with them,” especially those most attached to traditions.
In that same line, Vasile Banescu, spokesman for the Church, commented that priests can only “pour a little water on the baptized.”
About the baby’s death, Banescu told local media ‘G4Media.ro’ that they have already opened an internal investigation to determine what happened.
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“There is no word or deed to calm the hearts of parents and family members, but we are with them at this difficult time and we pray that it strengthens, comforts and heals them,” he said.
The judicial authorities, for their part, opened an investigation for involuntary homicide.
The English newspaper ‘The Guardian’ reported that more than 80% of Romanians belong to the Orthodox Church and that the institution is one of the ones with the best image in the country.
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