Was A Priest Pushed Off Stage For Fat-Shaming? Truth Behind Viral Video

A video that has gone viral online, collecting millions of views, shows a woman pushing a priest off a stage. The video was shared on Twitter by a user who claimed that the incident took place during a sermon in Brazil after the priest said that fat women cannot go to heaven.

However, there is little truth to the claim.

According to fact-checking website Snopes, the unnamed woman did push the priest, Padre Marcelo Rossi, off the stage in front of about 50,000 people. The incident took place on July 14. However, the priest did not make any fat-shaming comments.

Marco Faustino, a Brazilian writer, provided the following translation of Padre Rossi's speech just before he was pushed from the stage: "These hands no longer belong to me. Sinners, weak, but these hands belong to Jesus, so much that the priest already acts in the person of Christ. To serve, to bless..."

Watch the viral video below:

In Brazil a priest says "fat women cannot go to heaven!"
And then… pic.twitter.com/WiPWSvG4Ur

— Figen.. (@TheFigen) July 17, 2019

It is not clear why the woman pushed him off the stage. However, according to local reports, her companions told police that she suffers from some mental-health issues.

The 32-year-old woman was taken away by the police. She was let go shortly afterwards as the priest declined to press charges.