Moment young girl and mother are caught stealing from woman's handbag during a mass at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Honduras

Shocking video has captured the moment a young girl encouraged by her mother steals from a woman's handbag during a mass in Honduras.

Surveillance footage shows the child reaching over the pew in front and taking what appears to be a cellphone at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in the capital city of Tegucigalpa on Sunday.

The pair then immediately dart off together and head for the exit while their unsuspecting victim remains standing and observing the priest.

It is not clear whether the footage has yet been handed to police but the brazen flouting of the eighth commandment in church has drawn widespread condemnation.

'Stealing in the House of God,' one user wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

A girl and her mother (pictured right and second to the right in the third row) pretend to pay attention to a priest's lecture during a mass at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Sunday moments before they robbed what seemed to be a cellphone from the bag of a woman (pictured in the middle second row) 

A surveillance camera captures a young girl reaching into the bag of a woman to steal an item during the middle of a mass Sunday at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Another person casted blame on the young girl's mother for leading her down the wrong path.

'This can't happen, what's the example for our children,' they wrote.

'The place is the least important thing, here the terrible thing is to use a girl for this purpose and direct her towards crime,' another user on X commented. 'I hope the authorities proceed against those responsible.' 

In the footage, the mother and the girl could be seen standing on the bench isle behind their intended target.

The girl was seen passing an item that appeared to be a cellphone moments after she took it out the handbag of a woman who was praying at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Sunday

The child looks to the side as she follows her mother in their escape from the church after stealing from a woman's handbag

The girl held on to her mother and then leaned her hands on the bench while the woman and other churchgoers listened to the priest's lecture.

At one point she took advantage that the woman was holding her hands together in a praying position and reached over the bench and pulled the item out of the bag.

The child then slipped it to her mother before they hurried out of the church.

Honduran newspaper Tiempo reported that authorities have opened an investigation, but not arrests had been made as of Tuesday. 

DailyMail.com reach out to Our Lady of Guadalupe for comment.