Priest faces threats for destroying kids”satanic’ Halloween pumpkins

After damaging a display of kids’ Halloween pumpkins two days in a row, Father Jaromir Smejkal, a Czech priest, apologised in public.

Declaring the October festival a “Satanic feast,” Smejkal put his stamp on a collection of Jack-o’-lanterns he saw in a park close to his church in Kurdejov, Czech Republic. As part of the village’s Pumpkin and Lantern Parade, nearly two dozen pumpkins that had been carved by neighbourhood kids were on display.

When their second effort at a Halloween display was also ruined, the kids who made the decorations broke down into tears. Admitting to trampling on the pumpkins, Smejkal expressed regret for the act of vandalism and said he would have responded differently if he had known the pumpkins were carved by kids. He clarified that All Souls’ Day, a Catholic feast day on which prayers are said for saints and the faithful departed, is replaced by Halloween, a pagan holiday. He declared that shielding kids and families from unseen evil is his responsibility as a priest and an authoritative figure.