Mexican student takes devotion to Catholic church a bit too far: tries to poison pope opponents
By ONANTZIN News
2011-08-17
MADRID -- According to Mexican principles, at least one trip to church each year, even if its for a quinceañera, is more than enough to show one's devotion to Catholicism; anything beyond that is borderline fanaticism. Unfortunately, it appears there's at least one Mexican who did not follow those teachings.
This week, a Mexican student who is studying organic chemistry at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) tried to showcase his Catholic devotion by carrying out a gas attack against protesters opposed to the Pope's visit to Madrid.
Fortunately for everyone, Spanish police arrested the Mexican fanatic on Tuesday morning as he picked up Sarin gas, several gas masks, and a 3 litter bottle of Mexican coke (the one with real sugar) from Spain's local black market.
According to Spanish daily El País, the student, whose identity has not been revealed, was working as a volunteer in the preparations of the pope's visit to Madrid for World Youth Day celebrations. Officials from the Spanish General Commissariat of Intelligence said the student was hoping to kill 200 or 400 pope haters with Sarin gas.
The news of the arrest sent shock waves across Mexico, where experts weighed in on what they said was "a failure of religious education". According to Roberto Flores, religious studies professor at Mexico's Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), the student's religious education must not have been an adequate one, which made him susceptible to European extremist beliefs.
"Every Mexican is imbued with the knowledge that one trip to church each year is more than satisfactory to show one's commitment. That message is ingrained so thoroughly, not even a guilt trip makes a Mexican go to church if he's already met his quota - celebratory occasions being the exception," stated professor Flores. "This poor student must have gotten incompetent religious teachings, which most likely allowed European extremists to corrupt him".
Whether or not professor Flores' assertions are true will not be known until the Mexican student is questioned. He is being held in custody for counts of terrorism and is expected to appear before a judge Thursday, once the anti-Pope demonstration scheduled for Wednesday night is over.