Sacred Objects for Worship Stolen from Five Churches in Jura Region

Case information
Incident date
Country
France
Place
Jura
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Theft
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Censorship or Removal of Public Christian Symbols
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Pattern or Frequency of Attacks
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Investigated
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Josh Applegate on Unsplash

A series of thefts occured in the French region of Jura during the period of August 16th to 28th: A monstrance and a chalice were stolen from both the church in Nevy-sur-Seille and Monteney. In Saint-Etienne Church in Rans, three golden chalices, a small golden ciborium and a silver cup, listed as part of the heritage of sacred arts, were stolen. In addition, a chalice, a ciborium and a paten were missing in Rochefort-sur-Nenon and the collection box in Baume-les-Messieurs was plundered. The police in Dole began investigations and suspected that most of the cases were linked.

After a previous series of burglaries in the departments of Ain and Jura, Jura police had already called for vigilance in April 2015. This time round, the burglars had easy access since churches were usually open for tourists and there was little surveillance. The French newspaper La Croix discussed the option of closing churches to prevent future thefts.

Sources