A self-proclaimed nun convicted of religious harassment has travelled to Wales to spread her message. The Catholic Church has officially urged people to steer clear of Sister Ruth Augustus, who it says belongs to an order which she has made up.
Augustus – who has spent years touring the world with a three foot tall fibreglass Virgin Mary statue – was arrested after telling Muslims in London: “You’re probably terrorists – get back to your own country.” She was fined £200 by Westminster magistrates for the offence.
But the 70-year-old told Wales on Sunday she was glad to be in Wales for a month-long tour (but without the statue). She has already been to Cardiff and Pontypridd and is planning to visit Swansea, Barry, Flint, Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Welshpool and Wrexham, simply chatting to people in streets and shops in a bid to spread her religious message.
Clad in a Pope Benedict T-shirt, wearing a rosary and clutching a Pope Benedict bag, Augustus, from Birmingham, said she was touring Wales because a Christian Britain was important to her. “The whole civilisation comes from our Christian faith,” she said. “Before that people were wandering around eating each other, like they did in Africa.”