Thousands are urging the Orthodox Church to abolish traditional baptism rituals in Romania after a six-week-old baby died following a ceremony.
The child suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday in the northeastern city of Suceava after being fully immersed in holy water three times by a priest. Paramedics resuscitated the child and placed him on a ventilator, but he died in hospital a few hours later.
The child’s father says doctors found 110 millilitres of liquid in his lungs, with the priest now under investigation for manslaughter.
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“The boy was crying, but the priest immersed him three times in water and he inhaled water,” the distraught parent told local paper Monitorul de Suceava.
“The baby had blood on his nose. I put him face down to get the water out,” the father said. “He didn’t recover.”
Local broadcaster Antena 3 further reported that the child was born prematurely and was “extremely fragile.”
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