UPDATE: Bishop Will NOT Exorcise City Via Helicopter, Will Process & Bless With Fire Truck

News recently broke that a Colombian bishop would exorcise a city with holy water via helicopter.

The story circulated throughout the internet from multiple news sources. However, Diocese of Buenaventura Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya clarified these reports to ACI Prensa.

The bishop originally shared the idea of blessing Buenaventura via helicopter. According to ACI Prensa, “the media erroneously spread the news as if it were an exorcism.”

“We will make a vehicle procession with the fire truck and the image of St. Bonaventure. We will go to all places–to the most difficult neighborhoods where people were murdered in recent years,” the bishop said of the July 13 blessing.

“Where blood ran, where blood was shed, we will now pour holy water as a sign of reparation in the place of the dead fallen by violence,” Bishop Montoya told ACI Prensa.

The violence in the Buenaventura area is tragic, as there were more than 54 deaths this year alone. However, according to a report from a Vatican agency Fides prelate, many more people disappear.

“The problem is that there is not yet a culture of denunciation. Because there is fear, we have a society that is afraid to inform,” the prelate said.

The Bishop also denounced “houses of pique,” where people are kidnapped, tortured and murdered for not supporting gangs and their crimes.

ACI Prensa also reported that “between Jan. and Apr. of this year, 213 minors were murdered in the country and 7,142 children and adolescents were victims of sexual violence.”

Please pray for Colombia!