Priest who slapped baby for crying at baptism breaks silence as he's retired from services with apologetic Bishop claiming "great age played a part"
Father Jacques Lacroix, 89, said he just wanted the boy to 'calm down' during a ceremony in Champeaux, near Melun, in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris
A Catholic priest said he has been forced into retirement after hitting a two-year-old boy at his baptism.
Father Jacques Lacroix, 89, said: "I am finishing my ministry now...there is an end to everything."
He carried out the bizarre assault during a ceremony at the Collegiate Church in Champeaux, near Melun, in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, last Sunday.
In a video of the incident which has gone viral , Father Jacques is seen shouting at the boy.
"Calm down, calm down, you must calm down," he says, adding "be quiet" before squeezing the boy’s face in his hands.
The priest then stares at the boy in the eyes and slaps him hard on the cheek with his left hand.
The aggressive act prompts an immediate reaction from the boy's horrified parents and other family members, who prise him out of Father Jacques's grip.
Denying that the assault was too severe, Father Jacques told France Info radio today: "It was somewhere between a caress and a slap, I hoped to calm him down, I didn’t know what to do.
"The child was screaming a lot and I had to turn his head to pour water over it.
"I told him to 'calm down, calm down' but he was not calming down. I tried to hold him close. I just wanted him to calm down.
"I apologised for my clumsiness to the family. I am finishing my ministry now, it was my last baptism, there is an end to everything."
Jean-Yves, the Bishop of Meaux, said he had "taken measures so that the priest is suspended from all baptism and marriage celebrations".
The Bishop said Father Jacques would only be allowed to celebrate mass in the future if this was cleared beforehand.
He said Father Jacques had been guilty of a "loss of coolness that can be explained but not excused".
the more regrettable because the baptism is meant to be a happy moment, but tiredness and great age clearly played a part."
The parents have accepted the priest's apology and were happy to see the boy baptised, the Bishop added.

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