ISIS Terrorists Wipe Out Religious Statues, Symbols at St. Mary’s Cathedral

ISIS terrorists in the Philippines tore up a Catholic church, stomping on statues tied to the Christian faith, tearing down the cross of Jesus and basically destroying all the shows of religion at the St. Mary’s Cathedral.

The terror group is currently waging a war to establish a caliphate in Marawi, the country’s Islamic-dominated city.

Breitbart has the latest:

“Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists affiliated with the local jihadi outfits, Maute group and Abu Sayyaf, overran the city in May, taking Christians hostage, killing anyone who could not recite Quranic verses, and flying the Islamic State flag over the city’s mosques. President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a 60-day martial law period over the entire island of Mindanao, where Marawi is located, and has launched an airstrike offensive against the terrorists.

“Philippine authorities believe that many of those fighting in Marawi are not indigenous jihadis but foreigners who have traveled to the Philippines to help establish an ISIS caliphate there. ISIS’s Amaq News Agency has helped bolster this belief by releasing two propaganda videos from Marawi. The latest, released this week, shows ISIS jihadis within St. Mary’s Cathedral.

“Shot in a style similar to videos that showed the destruction of the Mosul Museum in Iraq, the terrorists tore down all the statues within the Roman Catholic church, breaking them apart with hammers and stomping on them. They took down the large cross that adorns the church, as well as trampling the baby Jesus and tearing apart a photo of Pope Benedict XVI. The terrorists then set the building on fire.

“‘That is blasphemy! It’s unacceptable. It’s obvious that their actions are really out of this world. It’s demonic,’ Bishop Edwin de la Peña of Marawi said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, according to the Philippine Inquirer. ‘We are angered by what happened. Our faith has really been trampled on.’

“De la Peña had previously confirmed the abduction of Vicar General Father Teresito Soganub, along with a number of other church officials and believers in the church at the time. ‘It happened in fact on the eve of Mary’s feast: we ask her for help” because ‘only she can come to our aid,’ de la Pena said in a statement. “We also make an appeal to Pope Francis to pray for us and to ask the terrorists to release the hostages, in the name of our common humanity.’”

Some of those caught on video destroying the church were young, only in their teenage years.