Excrement on the floor, overturned flower vases and dirty tablecloths. This is what members of the Saint-Idunet parish in Châteaulin (Brittany) discovered when they entered their church on 20 November. A Easter candle had also been stolen.
Investigations revealed that a man had deliberately remained in the church after closing time on 20 November. During the night he defecated on the floor several times, knocked over flower vases, soiled altar cloths and stole the Easter candle - an important symbol in Catholic tradition. The stolen candle was later recovered during a police search of the suspect's squat.
Despite the desecration and the deliberate targeting of religious symbols, the mayor of the town, Gaëlle Nicolas, doubts that a religious background is involved, as the perpetrator, known locally as "Clochette," is part of a group of homeless people who have been causing disturbances around the church area. In response to previous problems, the police had increased patrols around the church since late summer.
Following the incident, the suspect was arrested, sentenced to community service and banned from the church premises for three months.