Bishop to spray town with holy water from helicopter to 'get rid of the devil'

When it comes to getting rid of the devil, it’s by any means necessary, right?

And that includes air dropping holy water on a Columbian town.

Newsweek reports that Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, the appointed Catholic bishop of Buenaventura, Colombia, said he’s planning on using a navy helicopter to drop gallons of holy water on his town July 14, which happens to be the feast day of Buenaventura’s patron saint, St. Bonaventure.

“We want to go around the whole of Buenaventura from the air and pour holy water onto it … to see if we exorcise all those demons that are destroying our port,” Bishop Montoya told local media. “So that God’s blessing comes and gets rid of all the wickedness that is in our streets.”

As the country’s busiest port, the town has, as Newsweek reports, “been ravaged by paramilitary gangs, who extort, kidnap and terrorize locals.” As of 2017, Buenaventura has a population of just over 400,000, with the vast majority of them Catholic.

Bishop Montoya told local media that conditions have gotten better recently, but there’s plenty more work to be done. The New York Times reported in 2018 that the murder rate in Buenaventura dropped below Colombia’s national average from 121 murders per 100,000 in 2006 to under 14.

“In Buenaventura, we have to get rid of the devil to see if we can return the tranquillity that the city has lost with so many crimes, acts of corruption and so much evil and drug trafficking,” he told local media.

“It will be a great public demonstration for the entire community, where we will pour holy water to see if so many bad things end and the devil goes out of here.”