Alongside the national call for prayer for peace this April 11, the Diocese of Tlaxcala is preparing for a public act of Eucharistic reparation following the grave sacrilege committed in the early morning of Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026, in the community of San Lucas Cuauhtelulpan, belonging to the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Loma, Xicohténcatl. In that place, a group of people violently burst into the chapel of adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, assaulted the faithful who were keeping vigil in prayer, and stole the ciborium with the consecrated hosts.
According to the statement from Bishop Julio Salcedo Aquino, MJ, “some people burst into the place that, due to the Holy Week celebrations, had been adapted as a chapel of adoration.” The faithful present were threatened, beaten, and stripped of their belongings. The incident worsened when the assailants seized the ciborium containing the consecrated hosts. The bishop particularly lamented “the life and integrity of the people who suffered this outrage” and recalled that the theft of the Eucharist is one of the gravest offenses against the Catholic faith, incurring excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.
The prelate compared the event to the experience of Mary Magdalene before the empty tomb: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb and we do not know where they have put him” (Jn 20:2). “These events wound us deeply,” he wrote, and called upon the entire diocese to pray intensely for those responsible so that “taking awareness of the gravity of their actions, they soon return it.”
As an immediate response, the diocese, through the Commission for Liturgical Pastoral Care, has prepared a liturgical resource titled Act of Reparation for the Profanation against the Eucharist. It details a reparation program that includes Days of Eucharistic prayer during Easter Week in all parishes, with a special invitation to members of the Nocturnal Adoration and to Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. It also exhorts to care for “the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacred objects in our temples, but above all, the life, the integrity of our faithful, and to foster the building of peace.”
The culminating point will be the diocesan rite of reparation, which will be celebrated on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. in the Temple of San Lucas Cuauhtelulpan, presided over by Bishop Salcedo Aquino himself. The liturgical resource includes a complete Reparatory Holy Hour and Act of Reparation to the Most Holy Sacrament, which will begin with an initial prayer of faith and repentance: “My Jesus, I believe, I hope, I adore and love you; I ask forgiveness for those who do not believe, nor hope, nor adore, nor love you” (repeated three times). It is followed by professions of faith in the Incarnation, the Virgin Mary, the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, and in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
The act includes litanies of reparation (“Sacred Host, Profaned by the impious, have mercy on us”), the recitation of Psalm 50, Eucharistic hymns, and a personal prayer of reparation: “Oh Jesus, who are profaned in our churches at the hands of those who do not love you, I adore you in all the scattered and broken particles.” It will culminate with the blessing and reservation of the Most Holy Sacrament.
Subsequently, a Holy Hour of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will be held, recalling the apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and emphasizing that “whoever truly loves, repairs.” The entire resource underscores that the theft not only affects the local parish but “gravely wounds the communion of the Church.”
In the document, the diocese reiterates its closeness to the community of San Lucas, “We walk with you, as we lament the sacrilege committed against Our Lord in your community”. Likewise, it asks anyone who finds the ciborium with the consecrated hosts to communicate immediately with their parish priest.
This act of reparation seeks not only to repair the sacrilegious offense but also to strengthen Eucharistic faith throughout the diocese and promote the conversion of those responsible for the act. The Church of Tlaxcala, united in prayer, hopes that the Risen Christ “have mercy on us” and restore peace in the affected community.
The resource can be viewed here: