Tabernacle Forced and Consecrated Host Stolen from Church in Bidache

Case information
Incident date
Country
France
Place
Bidache
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Desecration
  • Theft
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
  • Victim/Witness Perception
Reported to Police
  • Unknown
Response of Local Authorities
  • Unknown
Image credit: Wikimedia. Peter Potrowl, CC BY-SA 4.0

On 26 August 2025, unknown perpetrators forced open the tabernacle of a church in Bidache and stole a ciborium and a lunule containing a large consecrated host. The theft of the Eucharist constitutes a serious act of desecration in the Catholic context.

On August 26, 2025, the Church of Bidache in the Basque Country was targeted in a serious act of deseccration. Thieves forcibly opened the tabernacle and stole the ciborium, which contained consecrated hosts, along with the lunula used for Eucharistic adoration.

The deliberate targeting of the tabernacle and the theft of a consecrated host-central to Catholic belief-constitutes a serious act of desecration in the Catholic context.

Father Lavigne confirmed the gravity of the offense, stating, “Given that the host was stolen with the lunula, it is a profanation: without it being possible to say whether it was intended or not.” In response, the Diocese of Bayonne organized a mass of reparation on August 28, led by Father Philippe Beitia, its chancellor.

Sources