10 Catholic Churches in France Vandalized In Just One Week, Set Ablaze And Smeared With Human Excrement

At least 10 incidents of vandalism and desecration of Catholic churches have been reported across France since the beginning of February, The Express UK reported.

Catholic churches in France are being targeted with arson attacks, vandalism, desecration of holy statues, and the destruction of the Eucharist.

In one particular case, miscreants used human excrement to draw a cross on the wall in February.

The Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, where the Da Vinci Code movie was filmed, was set ablaze after midday mass last Sunday (17 March). Firefighters and police have confirmed the incident as an arson attack.

On 4 February, a 19th century statue statue of the Virgin Mary was found smashed on the ground at St Nicholas Catholic Church in Houilles, Yvelines. The church has reported three incidents within 10 days. In another incident, a cross was also found thrown on the floor by vandals.

At Saint-Alain Cathedral in Lavaur in south-central France. , statues and crosses were smashed and an altar cloth was burned earlier this month. A statue of Christ on a cross was also interfered with, as vandals twisted one of the arms to make it appear that Jesus was dabbing.

On 6 February, miscreants at Notre-Dame des Enfants (Our Lady of the Children) church in Nimes, vandals broke into the tabernacle and scattered altar hosts on the ground.

During the attack, vandals used human excrement to draw a cross on the wall in February. Consecrated hosts of unleavened bread, which Catholics believe is the body of Jesus Christ, were found scattered outside with rubbish.

Prime Minister of France Edouard Phillipe has condemned the attacks.

“In one week, in France, 5 degraded churches. In our secular Republic, places of worship are respected. Such acts shock me and must be unanimously condemned. I will tell the bishops of France at the meeting of the forum of dialogue with the Catholic Church,” he said.

On 26 July 2016, two Islamic terrorists, Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean, owing allegiance to the Islamic State, attacked a mass at a Catholic church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, northern France. Wielding knives and wearing fake explosive belts, the men took six people captive and later killed one of them, 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel, by slitting his throat, and also critically wounded an 86-year-old man. The terrorists were eliminated by the French police when they attempted to leave the church.