VIDEO: Beirut blast hits church during Mass. Awful.

We should pray for the priest in this video.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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14 Comments

  1. Father G says:

    My goodness! He ran right into that large piece of falling stained glass! If only he ran the other way. Looks like he got hit on the back of his right shoulder.

  2. Kent Wendler says:

    I hope Father was not seriously injured.

    It seemed as though a ground wave vibration arrived first, then the power outage followed by the air shock wave which did the real damage.

    Really, though – parking nearly 3T of ammonium nitrate for around 6 years in an urban location???

  3. NOCatholic says:

    Horrifying enormous explosion. Over 70 dead and 3000 injured. Prayers for the victims, including the priest in Father Z’s video, and for the city and people of Beirut.

    The cause might have been exploding ammonium nitrate. Or, as President Tump seemed to suggest, it might have been an act of terror.

    News story with video of explosion: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/beirut-lebanon-explosions-today-2020-08-04/

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  5. JustaSinner says:

    Haven’t seen a blast in Beirut like that since July ’87…

  6. ChesterFrank says:

    Read some of the hateful comments in that twitter feed

  7. iamlucky13 says:

    Wow. And to think that was over a mile away.

    I am praying for the people of Beirut, and the repose of the souls of those who died.

    “The cause might have been exploding ammonium nitrate. Or, as President Tump seemed to suggest, it might have been an act of terror.”

    Someone could have intentionally set the fire that caused the explosion, but there is no plausible explanation for the size of the explosion itself except a quantity of stored material well beyond what anyone could have transported clandestinely – a literal boatload worth, except the center of the explosion was a short distance inland. It makes sense to strongly suspect the shipment of ammonium nitrate that Lebanese authorities say they know was impounded there.

  8. JesusFreak84 says:

    The fact that Father tries to keep going at first is dedication! Hopefully the Lord spares him for it…

  9. OssaSola says:

    Do we know yet how this poor priest is doing?

  10. The Egyptian says:

    kent;
    your figures are off, Over 2700 Tons of ammonium nitrate, that is right, 2700, approximately 1000 pounds took the side out of the Murrow office building years ago, This probably the biggest explosion short of a small nuke.
    The pictures i have seen are of utter destruction. I pray the priest is OK, If someone finds out please let us know

  11. Matthew says:

    This is St. Maron parish. Their website is here https://www.paroissesaintmaron.com/index.php

    Their facebook seems to indicate the priest was not seriously injured. They are praying for all injured, including those watching the streamed Mass at home.

  12. The Egyptian says:

    What a mess, bureaucracy fails every time, 2750 TONS. egads, been sitting there since 2014,
    6 stinking years and ammonium nitrate tends to get unstable over time, farmers knew to keep it apart and dry away from oil or fuel, it is a ticking time bomb
    from:
    https://tsarizm.com/news/eastern-europe/2020/08/05/kremlin-declares-russian-businessman-behind-beirut-blast/

    Lebanese authorities in 2014 confiscated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a Moldovan ship called the Rhosus, the country’s LBCI television channel reported overnight, citing sources at a Supreme Defense Council meeting, reported The Moscow Times. The Rhosus is owned by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian national and resident of Cyprus, Mediazona cited the ship’s crew members as saying.

    The Russian father of one, currently reported to be living in Limassol, Cyprus, was accused by the crew of his ship in abandoning both the people and the cargo. The ship called Rhosus was going under the flag of Moldova from Batumi in Georgia to Mozambique. It was detained in October 2013 by Lebanese authorities after it stopped in Beirut due to a malfunction on board. The cargo was checked and detained after the port authorities said it was ‘lacking documents and conditions necessary for transportation.’ The crew – eight Ukrainian and two Russian men – was forced to stay on board of the vessel while the owner Grechushkin declared himself bankrupt and ‘abandoned the ship’. Lebanese authorities agreed to let six out of ten sailors to leave the country, others were left stranded on the ship for almost a year, reported The Siberian Times.

    According to the professional union, at first the port authorities were not giving permission to unload the hazardous cargo. By March 2014, only the captain, chief and third engineers, and the boatswain remained aboard. “Then the sailors said that in addition to the ship’s detention and the unpaid salary, the crew was also worried by the fact that the Rhosus carried particularly dangerous cargo – ammonium nitrate. Beirut’s port authorities refused either to unload the cargo or to move it to a different vessel,” the statement said.

    In the summer of 2014, during the meeting with a consulate official, director general of land and maritime transport Abdel Hafiz El Kaissi reported that Lebanese authorities began to review the issue of repatriation of the Rhosus crew combined with the issue of the sale of the vessel and its explosive cargo, wrote TASS.

    “In the end, the court issued a permission to unload ammonium nitrate but the port agent M. Baghdadi continued to postpone the repatriation of sailors flat out refusing to hire the local technical crew. After some time the locals to unload the cargo were found, and the crew was allowed to return home. The staff of the Assol Sailors’ Support Foundation in Odessa assisted in repatriation, the statement noted.

    To date, according to the information of the ITF inspector in Novorossiysk Olga Ananyina, the ship’s owner hasn’t paid the crew yet and the hazardous cargo was not disposed of properly over all this time.
    ———————
    well it’s unloaded now
    E

  13. R. Guadalupe says:

    Wow, I cried when I saw that! I hope the priest is ok. So many people hurt or dead from this. Let us all pray for them!

  14. Father G says:

    Fr. Rabih Thoumy, the priest shown in the video, is fine.
    There is an interview with him on the EWTN News Nightly Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=341200076882151

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