A Catholic priest within the German state of Bavaria has dismissed an altar boy who served at his church for 9 years, over a photograph taken with a politician from the right-wing Various for Germany (AfD) occasion, the younger man’s household has mentioned.
The AfD got here in second within the federal election in February, claiming 20.8% of the vote – up from 10.4% in 2021. Regardless of the rising assist, the anti-immigrant occasion stays ostracized by different main events within the nation and is often branded ‘far-right’ by officers and media.
The younger man took a photograph with the AfD’s Maximilian Krah, who’s now a member of the German parliament, at a celebration occasion forward of the election and later shared it on social media, Passauer Neue Presse reported on Thursday, citing an open letter revealed by his household.
After the picture appeared on-line, the priest of a church in Bavaria’s Regen District invited the altar boy for a dialog, which, the household mentioned, resembled an “interrogation.”
In keeping with the open letter, the priest referred to as the younger man a “Nazi” in the course of the change and insisted {that a} Christian can not share the positions of the AfD.
The household claimed that the pastor requested the boy: “For those who suppose like a Nazi, discuss like a Nazi, act like a Nazi, are you not a Nazi?”
He additionally handed him a pamphlet titled ‘Ethnic nationalism and Christianity are incompatible’, saying: “In case you are courageous sufficient, then learn by means of this,” the letter mentioned.
The household insisted that the younger man is just not a supporter of the AfD and that he had visited marketing campaign occasions of assorted events earlier than the election as a result of a normal curiosity in politics.
The dismissal got here as a shock for the younger man, who could be very non secular and was contemplating turning into a priest himself, the letter mentioned. “Because the finish of January, our son’s and in addition our complete household’s world has fallen aside.”
The Catholic Church’s Diocese of Passau in Bavaria has confirmed the dismissal of the altar boy. The diocese mentioned in a press release that it helps “a free, democratic primary order,” however it’s also fascinated by sustaining “dialogue with individuals who sympathize with problematic political positions.”
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The younger man has been provided a number of occasions to return to his place as altar boy, however his household has not but accepted the presents, the assertion learn.
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