Watch: Crying Toddler Slapped During Baptism By Short-Tempered Priest

A video emerged online on social media Wednesday showing a French-speaking priest slapping a crying toddler during a baptism. The date and exact location of the incident remains unclear.

The incident took place inside a church during a baptism ceremony. The footage shows the scared baby crying when the clergyman started talking. The cry of the baby annoyed the priest so much that he ended up slapping the child.

While hitting the child, the priest uttered the words “calm down.” According to one Reddit user, the priest can be heard saying in French, as the child cried: “It's a tantrum, this is called a tantrum. I will spill water on the forehead, hmm? And then, I'll kiss the lil' kid - because he'll have become a little Christian. I will scream louder than you. So, calm down. Calm down.”

His aggression prompts an immediate reaction as the baby cries more loudly. The toddler's parents were surprised and shocked at the clergyman's action. A woman can be heard saying something to the priest as the man, who appeared to be the father of the child, grabbed the crying toddler out of the clergyman’s arms.

When the watching audience begins to murmur in shock, the priest repeated: "There, you have to calm yourself, you have to calm yourself, there, there."

People on YouTube took to the comments section to express their disapproval of the priest’s behavior.

“This is in front of cameras, what would happen behind the scenes when you leave a priest and a child alone?” one person wrote.

The video was also posted on Reddit, with one user writing: "This happened today in France, I'm really shocked."