Priest celebrates funeral after crucifying nun

A ROMANIAN Orthodox priest, facing charges for ordering the crucifixion of a young nun because she was “possessed by the devil”, was unrepentant as he celebrated a funeral ceremony for his alleged victim on Saturday.

“God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil,” Father Daniel, 29, the superior of the Holy Trinity monastery in north-eastern Romania, told a reporter before celebrating a short liturgy “for the soul of the deceased“, in the presence of 13 nuns who showed no visible emotion.

He insisted that from the religious point of view the crucifixion of Maricica Irina Cornici, 23, was “entirely justified”, but admitted he faced excommunication as well as prosecution.