Parishioners Watch as Crucifix Crushes Their Priest

A Mass in Ecuador turned tragic on Saturday when a crucifix toppled onto a priest's head during a livestreamed service, killing him, church officials said. The Rev. Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari, a Roman Catholic priest at the Church of Perpetual Relief in Guayaquil's Central Vicariate, was celebrating Mass when the large cross mounted on the wall behind the altar suddenly came down "onto the back of his head," NBC News reports.

Video reviewed by NBC but later removed from the internet shows Molinari facing the congregation with his back to the crucifix and not reacting before it strikes him. The crucifix knocked him to the ground and out of the camera's view, per People, as parishioners screamed and rushed forward to help. The Archdiocese of Guayaquil announced his death and held a memorial Eucharist on Sunday evening, later noting that "the Lord called" Molinari.