Unidentified vandals targeted the St. Josef Catholic Church in Ebingen, Albstadt during the night of June 9th (Whitsunday to Whitmonday). They damaged the shrine outside the church by smashing the glass pane, tore down flowerpots, and destroyed candles. They also smashed the mirror glass in the bathroom which is accessible from the outside with a rock. Property damage amounts to about 100 euros.
Unknown vandals damaged the wooden cross in the church yard of the Catholic Church in Harbach during the night of June 9th to 10th by tearing down the corpus (statue of Jesus) and completely destroying it.
Unidentified intruders vandalized the church of Saint-Jean de la Primaube in early June. Mass books were burned and the perpetrators tried to set fire to the tabernacle. Moreover, the statue of Mary and a large cross were damaged and the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was beheaded.
At the beginning of the 7am morning mass on June 8th, a 46-year-old man got out of the crowd, ran to the altar and hit it several times with an ax causing damage in the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Rypin, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. The congregation quickly stopped him and handed him over to the police who had him examined by a doctor. A breathalizer test showed that the in Rypin residing perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol, albeit less than 0.5 pro mille. The doctor decided to transfer him to a psychiatric hospital.
Scottish local councils ask for more power to introduce buffer zones around abortion clinics where they see fit without having to appeal to the UK government for permission. This call follows "intimidating" anti-abortion protests outside Glasgow, Larbert and Edinburgh clinics. However, buffer zones such as those would restrict anyone from certain actions such as praying, calmly talking to women about abortion and make them a criminal offense.
The Protestant Church in Dierdorf im Westerwald has been a target for vandalism for nearly two years. Reports beginning in July 2017 indicate that vandals have smashed windows, burned feminine hygiene products stuck to a wall to damage wall plaster, left graffiti on the walls and doors, knocked over park benches, and littered the area around the church every week. Property damage has reached tens of thousands of euros. The congregation is frustrated and horrified.
Unknown arsonists lit all candles in the Catholic St. Johann Church in Bad Dürrheim on June 5th before setting fire to a flowerpot placed on the 300-year-old wooden high altar with several burning candles. A church visitor noticed the burning candles and the smell of something burning. As she looked for the source, she found that the flowerpot was almost completely burned and the fire had spread to the wooden altar tabletop. Just in time, she extinguished the fire with holy water and reported the incident. A book for pryer requests was also burned a little bit on one side. The immense damage that was done to the altar could not be estimated yet.
On June 4th, the statue of Archangel Saint-Michel was found smashed into pieces on the grounds of the lycée-collège Saint-Michel de Picpus, a Catholic secondary school in Paris. Unknown vandals also heavily tagged the school's main entrance. The school had installed the statue of its the patron saint outside the school building after a dedication ceremony at the beginning of the school year.
The fire department in Ankum was called to a smoldering fire in the St. Nikolaus Catholic Church around noon on June 1st. When the team of 33 firefighters in six firetrucks arrived, the Swedish visitors who had initially discovered the two spots of smoldering fire in the church, had already extinguished them out with water. According to police, the church wasn't damaged by the fire and the fire department only had to inspect the site and quickly gave the all-clear. Police suspect arson and began their investigation with the help of the Swedish visitors describing two girls running out of the church just before they themselves entered and the church's surveillance video tapes.
Between May 29th and 31st, several unknown perpetrators broke into the Osterfeld Protestant Church in Berkheim, Esslingen. They entered by climbing the porch roof and, once inside, stole three game consoles and eight controllers from the youth room as well as one digital and one SLR camera from a storage room. The value of the stolen goods was estimated at around 1,000 euros and the property damage amounted to around 2,000 euros.
On May 31st, the Lutheran Nikolaikirche in Caldern was the target of vandals. Sometime between 8:30 am and 1:30 pm, unknown perpetrators entered the church, set fire to the bible and hymn book on the altar, and damaged three large candles. They also broke into a cabinet and a chest, but stole nothing. Finally, they left a pile of feces at the church entrance and another on a bench outside the church. Property damage amounted to approximately 300 euros and it is not yet clear how the perpetrators accessed the church. For the time being, the church will stay closed while investigations are ongoing.
Some time between May 29th and 30th, rocks were thrown at the stained glass windows of the north transept of La Roë Abbey.
After the morning Mass on May 30th, parishioners discovered that the statue of a little shepherd praying had been decapitated in front of the Notre-Dame church.
During the Ascension Mass on May 30th, two thieves aged between 40 and 50 were caught stealing 1,200 euros and 42 pounds sterling from the offertory boxes in the Sanctuary of Lourdes, in the Hautes-Pyrénées. The Spaniards, known to both French and Spanish police, worked in a coordinated manner for several days, with one on the lookout while the other was stealing the donations. The security services in the sanctuary caught them via surveillance video and handed them over to the police who held them in custody. At the end of their hearings by the investigators, they were released until their scheduled appearance before the Tarbes Criminal Court in October.
Two of the relics of the Fatima child saints as well as copies of a crown and golden rosary of the Fatima Virgin Mary statue were stolen from the Gesu Divino Lavoratore Catholic Church in Verona on May 29th while they were being taken around the country on a pilgrimage tour. Although they were only small pieces of cloth which once belonged to the Portuguese sheperd children Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who were canonized in May 2017 by Pope Francis, they are of great value for devout Catholics. Priest Andrea Ronconi said he was “heartbroken and mortified” by the theft and that it probably happened at noontime. Police are looking for the two suspects with who the priest might even have conversed before he locked the church for lunch break.
A large crucifix with Christ figure in front of the Saint-Patrice church in the Croix-Rouge district of Marseille was vandalized with blue paint on May 29th. According to reports, this is the second such vandalism in 15 days.
During the night of May 29th to 30th, twelve graves were vandalized in the cemetery Celleneuve in Montpellier (Hérault department). The perpetrators appeared to have specifically targeted crucifixes. The police closed the cemetery on the Ascension holiday to conduct an investigation. Titina Dasylva, deputy mayor in charge of security, expressed her outrage about the incident on Twitter.
On May 28th, the Catholic Chapel of St. Padre Pio in Płońsk was the target of vandals who desecrated the chapel's crucifix by taking it off the wall and smashing it. According to the parish priest, a parishioner who came to pray in the chapel found the cross on the floor and the ceramic Jesus Christ statue from the cross broken into pieces. Police are investigating.
An unidentified vandal smashed the lead glazing of an altar window at the Catholic Church in Büchel in the afternoon of May 28th.
Witnesses called the police from two different churches in Vienna (Michaelerplatz and Florianigasse) to report thefts from the offertory box in the middle of the day on May 27th. Both suspects were arrested while they were still in and around the church buildings. The police found coins in double-digit total value on each of the perpetrators.
According to a report from the mother of a 5-year-old boy who attends a government-run kindergarten in Budapest, the teacher told her son not to talk about God with other children because there were non-believers in the classroom. However, there have been entire morning programs devoted to learning about astrology/zodiac signs. When the boy's mother complained to the kindergarten director, she was told that the school maintains Christian traditions with the celebration of Christmas and Easter, but that the teacher was correct to stop the discussion of God's existence and to prohibit the children from talking about God.
On a Sunday afternoon, perpetrators tagged a church in Kronach with the tags "RCS" and "RCG" causing damage estimated at about 500 euros. The graffiti was found on the main entrance door and on a message board.
During the May 25th Tri-City Equality March in Gdansk, which was organized by the LGBT communities, the Catholic tradition of Corpus Christi processions was parodied. A group of people in multicolored costumes with rainbow halos were supposed to imitate the typical attire of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Each of them held on to a ribbon attached to a highly provocative sign depicting a crowned vagina where in Catholic Corpus Christi processions the Blessed Sacrament (a consecrated host) would be. A person dressed in white, imitating a priest, was holding the sign. The city's mayor participated and gave an opening speech at the march, calling it an honor to open the event.
Vandalism such as graffiti and littering has been a recurring problem at the ancient church of Santa Maria in Colle. (Link below to April incident). On May 25th perpetrators struck again. Graffiti in the form of doodles and insults was found on the church walls and quickly removed. In a response to the persistent vandalism, a local historian appealed to everyone to keep the church clean and sacred by emphasizing the value and importance of the place for the community and accentuating that workers once had given their lives to build this church. However, the vandals were little impressed by his appeal and made the church their target as they returned to cover the freshly whitewashed walls of the church with graffiti again that same night.
Police investigated an arson attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Ballymagroarty (Northern Ireland). An outbuilding next to the church was set on fire at around 10:30pm on May 24th. 20 firefighters battled the blaze which spread to the church roof and were able to contain it before it spread to the chapel or parochial house. The parochial house was evacuated. The fire service reported that CCTV cameras filmed two people setting the fire.
Legal proceedings were launched in the High Court against Richmond Council to challenge a controversial Public Space Protection Order (“PSPO”) around an abortion clinic on Rosslyn Road that makes it a criminal offense to, among other things, pray or have conversations about abortion. The legal challenge has been brought by Justyna Pasek, who has personally supported women visiting the abortion clinic in Richmond for over five years, offering them alternatives to abortion.
Sarah Kuteh loses case at Court of Appeal.
During the night of May 20th to May 21st, the Chapelle Sainte-Anne in Brest was again the target of vandalism in the form of graffiti. It is not the first time unknown perpetrators have sprayed obscene and blasphemous tags on the wall of the chapel or disturbed Sunday services. The abbot said: "The chapel is regularly targeted by nauseating inscriptions. ...The ideology of their authors is clear. Residents testify to their desolation at seeing hatred spread regularly against this peaceful chapel."
Police reported that unknown perpetrators broke in a church window with stones and invaded the interior of the church of the Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit in Großholbach (Westerwald in Rhineland-Palatinate) during the night of May 18th to 19th. Several sacred objects, including statues of saints, were broken. The Jesus figure was removed from the crucifix and burned. The intruders also urinated in the aisle and on several pews.
Police announced on May 19th that a tablecloth had been set on fire in the vestibule of St. Blasii's Evangelical church in Nordhausen during the night of May 18th. Fortunately, it did not catch fire completely. There were also traces of fire on a cordon to the church balcony. The professional fire brigade used a thermal imaging camera to scan other areas for evidence of fires. Police are now looking for witnesses who may have seen something suspicious.
Both sides of the main wooden entrance portal to the church of Sant'Orso were painted with female faces in the Japanese comic style during the night of May 16th to 17th. The vandals also painted the letters A and T next to the faces. Police are reviewing CCTV footage.
On May 7th, an unknown buyer purchased "nine real Catholic hosts, consecrated by a priest” from a Germany-based Etsy seller for $11.58. The seller, who called himself “AL” and his business “Pentagora,” said the hosts were “to abuse for classic black fairs or black magic purposes.” In response to a petition with over 10,000 signatures demanding the online marketplace ban the sales of consecrated hosts, the company admitted that such a sale was in violation of their policies.
The Dublin-based Iona Institute for Religion and Society launched a pro-life ad campaign during the week of May 7th, which included billboard signs depicting an unborn child in the womb. Iona extended that campaign to Facebook and paid a promotion fee to bring it to a wider audience. Facebook blurred the image in the ads behind a warning and said that the image comes under the heading of “graphic” or “violent” content. UPDATE: On May 20th, Facebook reversed the decision, saying it was mistakenly categorized as "sensitive content."
The Iranian Christian convert Fatemeh Azad's claim for asylum due to conversion to Christianity was rejected by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees and she was deported to Iran. The reason for her rejection was that she did not convince the judge of her genuine conversion. Upon arrival in Iran, she was arrested immediately and released on bail and now she is waiting for her trial which could mean a death sentence because in Iran there is a death penalty for apostasy from Islam.
For what was is described as the "umpteenth" time, the walls of the medieval Rupe quarter and the facade of its church, San Giovenale, were vandalized with graffiti which included "blasphemous phrases." Police began an investigation and specialized cleaning teams will be hired to remove the paint.
During the night of May 12th, intruders entered the church of Sainte-Famille in Villeurbanne (Rhône) and damaged the holy water stoup, candles, and left trash. The city's urban safety brigade is investigating.
Three metal, meter-high, statues of Christian figures were stolen off their granite pedestals in a family plot in the cemetery of Argenton-les-Vallées (Deux-Sèvres). Police are investigating.
As a result of a forensic investigation into the origin of a fire that broke out around 6 am on May 5th in the sacristy of the church of Equihen-Plage, a man was arrested on May 9th and sentenced to four and a half years in prison (18 months suspended sentence and three years on probation). The 34-year-old confessed to having set the fire as well as having robbed churches in La Capelle-lès-Boulogne, Wimille, and attempting to rob a church in Boulogne. He said he also had tried to set those churches on fire, but without success. The damage to the Equihen-Plage was extensive, estimated at around 340,000 euros.
In the latest in a series of vandalism incidents at the St John the Evangelist church in Copthorne, the Victorian gate memorial to World War I veterans in the churchyard was kicked in and broken. The Churchwarden reported that this was the latest in a string of incidents at the village church. Police are investigating.
Activists prevented a planned lecture by the gynecologist Michael Kiworr (Mannheim) on 8 May at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
During the afternoon of May 7th, the priest of a Hofheim church caught a man trying to break into the donation box with a tool. The man fled the scene on bicycle. Later, during the night between May 7th and 8th, intruders entered a church in Raunheim (about 65 km away from Hofheim) through a broken basement window. Although it appeared that nothing was stolen, they damaged the locked entrance door as they left.
The parish priest of the church of Saint-Germain-des-Près discovered that a gilded metal cross, bronze candlestick, and a candle had been stolen from the church altar by two intruders. The thieves were able to enter the church between 2:10 and 2:30 a.m. without forcing the doors due to construction scaffolding on the building. Police are searching for the two perpetrators filmed by the security cameras.
On May 8th, parishioners at the church of Saint-Martin d'Asson (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) discovered that a crucifix had been dismantled, and the Christ figure it supported broken in two pieces and left on both sides of the altar. A complaint was filed and police began an investigation.
The Saint-Germain church in Brion-prés-Thouet (Deux-Sèvres) was the victim of a theft and desecration. Consecrated hosts and a lunula were stolen. On May 4th, a Mass of reparation was held.
A 46-year-old woman of Cuban origin was arrested on the 7. May for conducting over 40 altercations and assaults on priests, nuns and faithful of various Catholic parishes in Palma de Mallorca. The arrest took place after she violently stole the figure of a Buddha on 15 April.
The church of Saint-Genest was vandalized on the afternoon of May 6th, with the Easter candle and other candles dedicated to the Virgin Mary burnt, the organ's power supply damaged, and trash was found. According to reports, this is the second instance of vandalism that the village church in ten days. Police began an investigation.
Freiburg police are investigating a series of thefts from Catholic churches in Rheinfelden-Nollingen, Schwörstadt, and Bad Säckingen from mid-April to the beginning of May. Offering boxes were pried open and the contents stolen in each of the churches, with the Nollingen church hit twice by thieves.
During the period from May 4th to 6th, unknown perpetrators broke the lock at the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Winnweiler (Rhineland-Palatinate), lit a small campfire on the sandy ground outside the church, and defaced a wall with graffiti. A lightning rod was torn from the wall and the outer facade of the church was damaged. The police in Rockenhausen are investigating.
Unknown perpetrators smeared "several numbers, characters and figures in different colors" on the outer wall of the Evangelical Lutheran City Church in Rudolstadt. Police began an investigation.
During the night between May 4th and 5th, vandals ransacked the church of San Girolamo in Narni. On Sunday morning the 5th, the priest discovered that statues, benches, and kneelers had been overturned and damaged. Wires were torn from the sound system, furnishings in the sacristy and other rooms were destroyed, and sacred books had been thrown to the ground. As a result of the extensive damage, Mass had to be cancelled. A complaint was filed with the police.