Italian churchgoers denounce ‘liturgical horror’ of altar girl serving communion

‘It was as if I had killed someone,’ says priest in Ossanesga, Bergamo province, who chose child to assist him

A parish priest has defended himself after provoking a scandal in a small northern Italian town when he asked a child to help him serve holy communion.

Father Eros Accorigi said he had been without “an extraordinary minister of communion” during a recent Sunday mass at Santi Vito, Modesto e Crescenzia church in Ossanesga, a town in Bergamo province, and so chose an altar girl who he said appeared to have “the purest heart among so many sinners” to assist him.