Wearing a white medical eye patch,Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel delivered an almost hour-long Palm Sunday sermon to the congregation at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley on Sunday evening. He was welcomed with cheers and a standing ovation.
“This young man who did this act almost two weeks ago,I say to you,my dear,you are my son,” he said. “I will always pray for you. I’ll always wish you nothing but the best.
“And for whoever was in this act,in the name of my Jesus,I forgive you. I love you. And I will always pray for you,” Emmanuel said.
The sermon was livestreamed and posted to the church’s social media.
“In Christ we are always united regardless of our differences as far as theological,dogmatic or canonical differences are,” the bishop said.
The 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed the bishop during a service on Monday,April 15 was.
Police have charged 10 people over their alleged participation in that saw 20 officers injured and nearly 100 police vehicles damaged.
Seven teenage boys allegedly belonging to a terrorist cell were also arrested in police raids across Sydney as part of a major launched after the stabbing.
In his first sermon since the alleged attack,Emmanuel also directed comments about free speech and censorship to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“For us to say that free speech is dangerous,that free speech cannot be possible in a democratic country ... I’m yet to fathom this,” the bishop said.
Albanese and the government’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant have campaigned for X to remove videos of the livestreamed stabbing,but Emmanuel has in rallying against the order to remove the footage.
Emmanuel has developed a on COVID-19 measures,trans rights and geopolitics.
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