Camelia Pasandaran – A statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in a cave sacred to many millions of Indonesian Catholics has been beheaded less than ten days before Christmas, a senior church official said on Friday.

Pastor Antonius Benny Susetyo, executive secretary of the Commission of the Indonesian Bishops Conference, told the Jakarta Globe that a person pretending to be a pilgrim infiltrated Goa Maria Sendang Pawitra (Maria's Cave of the Holy Waters) in Tawangmangu, Central Java, on Wednesday night and beheaded the Madonna.

Benny said the vandal also removed a sacred cross measuring one-and-a-half meters in width and destroyed a number of other smaller statues and a holy water container. Police have launched an investigation.

"I believe this an attempted provocation as Christmas celebrations approach," Benny said. "We call on the Catholic community in Indonesia not to be provoked and trust in the police to resolve the case."

Benny said that prior to the attack there had been no problems between the pilgrims that visited the cave and local people. He said the relationship was mutually beneficial.