Covid: Irish nuns ‘break lockdown to attend exorcism’

Pair have since raised nearly £70,000 to secure new accommodation after being kicked out of Cork ‘retreat’

Mother Irene Gibson (right) and Sister Anne Marie (left) travelled between Cork and Dublin when it was illegal to do so (GoFundMe)

Two nuns have hit back at “the children of darkness” after they received criticism for apparently breaching Covid guidelines to attend an exorcism.

Mother Irene Gibson and Sister Anne Marie, who are based in Cork, attended the religious event before a traditional Latin mass outside Irish Parliament in Dublin on 8 December.

Video footage, reportedly seen by the Irish Examiner, shows 70 people at the “exorcism of the Dáil” – despite outdoor gatherings at the time being limited to 15 and inter-country travel in the Republic of Ireland being banned.

The mass was said by Father Giacomo Ballini who is reported to have told the crowd triumphantly: “No human power can take away the right to say mass”.

Defending their decision to ignore coronavirus travel advice, Mother Gibson said on a GoFundMe page – set up on the back of a separate conviction – that “Lord Jesus” had given her and the sisters “the spiritual weapons and the armour of light to fight” anyone who criticised their actions.

The Carmelite Sisters of the Holy Face of Jesus, the group which she and New Zealander Sister Marie belong to, were ordered to leave their West Cork retreat in 2019 over a breach of planning laws.

According to RTE, Mother Gibson purchased the land – a former garden centre near the village of Leap – around five years ago and, without planning permission, developed a two-story oratory and seven wooden sheds where she lived and hoped to develop a community.

She and Sister Marie now occupy just three of the sheds: one each for living while a separate unit acts as a kitchen.

However supporters have now donated more than £67,000 on the fundraising page Mother Gibson posted her cryptic message on, which apparently means they can “purchase some property”.

“Praised be Jesus Christ! We have good news to share with you all!” Mother Gibson wrote on the site.

“Your outstanding charity toward our needs has finally made it possible for us to purchase some property.

“How has this been possible when the children of darkness have done their utmost to try and crush us?

“By spreading lies on local West Cork newspapers, on social media, and filing complaints about our fundraising campaign to local authorities, they have tried to prevent you, our benefactors, from helping us achieve our goal.

“Yet as Holy Scripture tells us ... no matter how deep the darkness, it is never able to extinguish a light.”

In the nuns’ GoFundMe appeal, which is only £5,700 shy of its £73,400 goal, they describe themselves as “zealously faithful to the True Catholic Faith”.