Parla Parish Keeps Night Vigil for Stolen Hosts
From midnight Saturday, parishioners will console the Sacred Heart and pray for the thieves’ conversion after consecrated Hosts disappeared during catechesis.
The parish of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Parla, in the Diocese of Getafe near Madrid, will keep an eight-hour Eucharistic vigil of reparation from midnight to 8 a.m. on Saturday, October 31, under the motto “A Night of Love for Jesus.”
The stated intention is to make reparation for offenses against the Lord, to console his Sacred Heart, to pray for the recovery of the stolen Hosts, and to ask for the conversion of those who took them. The vigil is open to all the faithful and is framed by the words of Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him” (Jn 20:13).
The tabernacle of the parish center’s chapel was stolen on Wednesday, October 21, between two children’s catechesis sessions. Catechists, mothers, and parochial vicar Andrés Klonowski were on the premises; no one noticed the theft at the time. It was discovered when the second group of children arrived to pray.
The tabernacle contained a ciborium with about thirty consecrated Hosts and a larger host reserved for the Night Adoration the parish holds on the third Friday of each month. Pastor Orlando Mateos searched nearby rubbish bins and vacant lots in the old part of Parla but found nothing.
The parish filed a complaint with the National Police, which is conducting the investigation. The Hosts have not been located. Given the approach of Halloween, Father Mateos did not rule out a possible satanic connection, while acknowledging there is no evidence; the perpetrators’ motive has not been publicly confirmed.
The Observatorio para la Libertad Religiosa y de Conciencia asked that the case not be treated as ordinary theft and listed Parla as the seventh tabernacle desecration recorded in Spain in 2026.
The Catechism teaches that the Body and Blood of Christ are contained truly, really, and substantially in the Blessed Sacrament. Canon 1382 imposes latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See, on anyone who throws away, steals, or retains consecrated species for a sacrilegious purpose—though its application depends on intent, which remains under investigation.
Parishioners are therefore invited to spend the night before the Lord in adoration, reparation, and prayer for those who have offended the Eucharist and for the safe return of the sacred species.