CHIKELUBA

A Catholic priest in Ecuador was preaching about death, and the importance of giving one's life to God, moments before a crucifix fell on him and killed him during a livestreamed Mass on Saturday. Father Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari, a 53-year-old Redemptorist priest, was celebrating Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city. "Dear brothers and sisters, one day, all of us here will also die…" he told the congregation. He returned to the point: "Dear brothers and sisters, one day we will all die, and the time we spent on trivial things will prove far less meaningful than the time we invested in God." "The quality time we gave to Him, to our brothers and sisters, to our spouses, to our children, and to our families… That is time well spent, dear brothers and sisters." Moments later, the large wooden crucifix behind the altar came loose and struck him on the head. Worshippers rushed to help him, but he did not survive. The Archdiocese of Guayaquil has confirmed his death. What caused the crucifix to fall remains unknown.