By Simon Ebegbulem
BENIN—AN APPARITION, said to be that  of Jesus Christ, was seen  yesterday at the St Paul’s Catholic Church, Airport Road Benin City, Edo State, with thousands of Catholic faithful struggling to receive the blessings in the church.

The incident created serious traffic jam along the ever busy road for several hours,  particularly when it was learnt that the apparition will reappear by 3p.m.

Thousands throng the church to see for themselves, what is widely believed to be Jesus Christ noticed at the “Monstrance” found in the Church sanctuary.

Many of the faithful were shocked and scared with what they described as the “mysterious appearance” of Jesus Christ. Many laid on the altar to at least pray for the forgiveness of their sins, fearing that the appearance could mean the end of the world.

A staff of the church, who craved anonymity, explained that “the image was an expression of the blessed sacrament, but when sacrament is exposed we usually see the white background in the gold plated object placed on the altar but since yesterday afternoon, we have been seeing Jesus’ form in the background, which is supposed to be white and it has been there till now but it is beginning to go faint now.”

Assistant Priest of the church, Rev Father Chima Okosisi declined comments but acknowledged that it was a strange development,  adding that “similar things had happened before in other places, we revered it”.

A catholic faithful, Bernedette Idalo narrated that the apparition appeared at about 3 pm on Wednesday,  which she said was the hour of divine mercy, the exact time Jesus was said to have died when he was crucified.

She, however, said that it was totally strange to the church as similar images had appeared on the wall and other places before now but that this particular incident was strange because it appeared in the alter.