WATCH: Woman shoves celebrity priest off stage
A woman shocked thousands of Mass goers when she shoved a priest off a stage in Brazil on Sunday, July 14.
Fr. Marcelo Rossi was preaching to 50,000 attendees in São Paulo when a woman ran on stage and pushed him, causing him to fall over, Newsweek reported on Monday, July 15.
Rossi is a popular Catholic priest in Brazil known for his lively Sunday services and has sold millions of musical records. He was at the headquarters of Catholic community Canção Nova, which airs religious videos online, when the incident occurred.
The fall was captured on video, which is posted on YouTube channel Portal UAI. It has amassed 2.5 million views as of this writing.
Rossi said there was some pain but that he was not hurt. He returned to the stage within minutes to continue the Mass.
The woman, who was not identified, was detained by police. She came from out of town with her 3-year-old son and reportedly gave different reasons for pushing Father Rossi during questioning.
According to an official, as per a report in O Dia via Queerty on Monday, the woman said she wanted to talk to the priest, but got scared when she saw security guards chasing after her. Security reportedly was not going after her. She pushed him when she freaked out and lost control, but did not mean to hurt him. The woman also cited mental health problems, particularly having bipolar disorder.
While leaving the police station, the woman was heard to have said that the incident was “between me and him.” Rossi did not press charges. Niña V. Guno /ra
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