Panaji (Goa): The Church in Goa has expressed pain over the incidents of desecrations that were reported in South Goa in the recent past.

“The Church in Goa is deeply pained with the recent spate of desecrations of religious structures and burial places of the Christian community, along with a stray incident targetting also the Hindu community in the State,” Archbishop of Goa and Daman Filipe Neri Ferrao has said in a statement released here.

“These violent incidents seem to be designed by vested interests to provoke communal discord and promote religious hatred,” the Archbishop has said.

“While we strongly condemn the same, I personally appeal to our brothers and sisters of all faiths to refrain from taking any retaliatory action or even fanning the flame of religious hatred in their hearts,” he said.

The Archbishop has added :Our State has been known for its traditional inter-religious harmony and peace. Let us keep these sacred values at all costs, especially in these troubled times, when violence seems to have become the order of the day.

“At the same time, we urge the government authorities to thoroughly investigate these acts of vandalism and to bring the perpetrators to book,” he added.

Nearly 50 graveyard stones were broken in a cemetery at South Goa’s Sanvordem village on July 09 night by unknown miscreants. Before that at least nine Holy Crosses and a temple was desecrated in the month of July.

Team TNV