The Texas Bar, located on the seafront in the French Mediterranean town of Toulon and right next door to a Catholic church, was long known as a gathering place for homosexuals – but that all changed when the establishment went up for sale and the Missionaries of Divine Mercy decided to buy it.

“You will understand the importance of this place for our evangelization in the area,” the Missionaries said in a statement. “So the Sodom bar will become the pub of Mercy”.

Breitbart is reporting that the relationship between the bar and the Missionaries' church had been “strained” for years, but after the bar filed for bankruptcy and was auctioned to the highest bidder, the Missionaries scrambled to raise enough cash to purchase it.

Generous donors raised a sizable amount of money but on the day of the auction, when other potential buyers saw the Missionaries praying during the bidding, they backed off. As a result, their bid was the highest and the building now belongs to them.

The Missionaries are planning to turn the building into a mission to further their evangelization efforts in the area.

The 41-year-old president of the Gay Power Toulon association, known as Titi, wasn’t pleased with the sale.

"I would have preferred if someone else got it but they've wanted the place for years," he told The Local. "To them, it's like Satan is right next to their church."

And even he admits they won’t be able to use the building right away.

“They’ll need a whole bunch of exorcists to get rid of everything that’s happened in there”.

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