Unknown vandals entered San Lorenzo's medieval church in Varigotti on the night of 5-6 August and destroyed several things during the raid. Apart from ransacking the premises, they also stole offerings and other equipment from the church.
On August 4, the baroque protestant church of Großröhrsdorf, a small town in Saxony, burned down to the ground. After a week of investigation, the criminal investigation department determined that the cause of the fire was arson and a suspect has already been arrested.
On August 4, the church of Saint Peter of Désaignes, in France, was vandalized on its interior. A crucifix was damaged, leaving the arms of Christ broken, when it was taken down and left near the altar. There were also tags painted with silver paint on two pillars on either side of the altar, representing the male and female symbols. The gendarmerie is conducting an investigation.
German luxury car brand Porsche digitally removed the statue of Christ the King in Lisbon from an advertisement celebrating 60 years of the Porsche 911 filmed in Portugal and published on 2 August. After the unreasonable removal of the monument caused outrage among Christians, the brand apologised for the "error" and re-published the video with the Christ unedited.
In the night of 1st to 2nd of August, a church in Graz was vandalised with graffiti. Perpetrators painted inverted crosses on the outside walls of the church. Inverted crosses are known to be anti-Christian, satanic and occultist symbols. The police were notified and have started an investigation.
St Oswald's Parish Church in Oswestry has implemented new opening hours in response to reports of vandalism and unacceptable behaviour on its premises. In a Facebook announcement, a church spokesperson expressed regret over the need to reduce the opening hours, citing recent incidents of vandalism and unacceptable behaviour as the driving force behind the decision.
On the evening of August 1, unknown perpetrators vandalised the plaster and some masonry parts of the Church of San Sebastiano in Montopoli.
In L'Aquila a young man damaged a statue of Mary in the church of San Pio X. According to initial police reports, the young man defaced the statue with a Hebrew tetragram after waiting for the departure of worshippers. He then forcibly pulled the statue from its pedestal, causing damage to its arm and legs.
A historic village church in Cleeberg, dating back to 1355, has been targeted by vandals, leaving the community in shock. The occurrence, discovered on the evening of August 1, involved the destruction of property and the desecration of religious items, including damages to the Bible on the altar.
Between July 30 and July 31, unknown individuals caused disturbances at St. Andrew's Church in Barningham. The perpetrators entered the church and took plants and pots from a funeral service, rolled up a carpet, interfered with the church organ, and discarded wrappers. The church now has to be locked during the day.
In Żuklin, in Kańczuga commune, two religious figures were vandalised by unknown perpetrators. The damage caused to the chapel was noticed by residents who were shocked upon discovering the act of vandalism. The eyes of a statue of Mary and a statue of Jesus were defaced.
On July 31, the Parish priest of the Our Lady Queen of Poland church in Chojnice reported that the Last Supper painting near the church entrance was vandalised. Specifically, one of the Apostles' faces was cut out.
On July 29, unknown perpetrators broke into the parish church in Fulda and stole the monstrance. They also stole some money.
On July 29, the church of Notre-Dame de Lencloître was the target of acts of vandalism by unknown perpetrators. The vandals broke into the tabernacle, threw the ciborium and hosts to the ground and broke the candles. They also left tendentious drawings on dusty chairs. The parish priest has reported the incident to the police.
On July 27, the cemetery in Rimbach has been vandalised. Grave lights were knocked over, holy water containers tore out, flowers were bent over, etc. According to the media, there have already been repeated acts of vandalism and damage to property in the church in Rimbach throughout 2023. Coat hooks were also torn from the church benches, books were thrown into the holy water, wax was poured into the holy water and similar acts were carried out.
On the 28 of July, the Church of the Madonna dei Farauli in Sternatia was attacked by vandals. An unknown perpetrator(s) threw stones at the window on the entrance door of the church, destroying the glass.
One July 27, the San Juan Bautista hermitage in Peñolite, Puente de Génave, was broken into and desecrated.
At the end of July, it was communicated that a Swedish bakery has been reported to the Discrimination Ombudsman after they declined to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. The Christian bakers believe that the person who ordered the cake already knew their religious beliefs and intentionally generated this case.
Between July 26 and 28, unknown vandals damaged a statue in Mariengrotte, between the Church of St. Martin and the parish office. A flower vase was also found destroyed and sacrificially candles were found smeared in the church. The police were notified and opened an investigation to find the culprits.
On July 29, a thief broke into the Romanian Orthodox church of Stegersbach, Austria, after the evening prayers. Next to stealing 150-200 euros from the donation box, the thief also left human excrements in the sacristy.
In the early hours of the July 23, a Russian missile struck the central altar of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa, reducing a large part of it to rubble. The building and the three lower floors were partially destroyed, while the interior and icons were significantly damaged. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church called for an immediate, final break of ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.
On July 23, a man wearing a face mask entered the Old Lutheran Church of St. Gertrude in Riga and vandalised the church. He damaged a baptismal vessel and an icon, scattered sand, poured water on the vessel and left the church. When entering the church he also threatened the church warden not to call the police or he would physically assault her. The pastor of the parish, Chris Kalnins, also reported that the attacker made death threats against the pastor.
Unknown perpetrators broke open the window of a church in Villach-Auen, Austria. By breaking open a door, they then gained access to the sacristy, rummaged through the cabinets and stole the donation box.
On the 16th of July, two youths stood trial in Leoben on charges of terrorist association and criminal organization. A 16-year-old and a 15-year-old planned a terrorist attack on MS Bruck school, since early 2022. The police found out through their chats that the plans were far advanced. When questioned, the perpetrators confirmed that they "wanted to shoot all the Christians in the class". The boys have now been convicted by law.
Felix Ngole, a Christian social worker, had a job offer by Touchstone Support withdrawn after the company found out that he won a free speech case over his Christian views. He says: “The reasons they gave for withdrawing the job offer were an attack on me and my faith." Ngole is now taking Touchstone to an employment tribunal.
On the 14th of July, the Saint Lucia church in Fondo, Italy, was found vandalised. The altar was damaged and a statue destroyed, with the vandals leaving a bottle of beer in the hands of the statue as a last act of destruction. The provincial councillor in Trento, Denis Paoli, condemns the attack: “What happened constitutes an intolerable outrage not only for the religious community but for the entire civil society."
On the 13th of July, 2023, an unknown vandal set fire to a cloth laying on a stand in the Roman Catholic church in Steinfeld, Germany. The cloth was completely burned and a Bible damaged, amounting to 300 euros in damage. This is the second case of arson in this church in the last three months.
Paving slabs, including a distinctive large blue piece of slate, have been stolen from St. Mary's Church in Llanfair-ar-y-Brun. The church warden discovered the theft on July 13. The vicar, Paul Pritchard, said that replacing the slabs would be difficult, given they already did not have sufficient funds to repair a collapsed wall at the church.
On the night of Wednesday the 12th of July, the Lourdes-Grotto in the Italian town of Fescoggia was vandalised, with the flowerpots overturned. Giorgio Bazurri, of the parish Fescoggia: "Popular faith is being attacked here, the cultural tradition of those who built these chapels." This is not the only case of vandalisation in the area: the face of the Madonna figure of the Greina-Ebene was also found smeared with black paint recently.
On Tuesday afternoon, the 11th of July, an altar cloth on a side altar in the St. Laurentius church was found in flames, with a damage amounting to around 5000 euros. The police have started an investigation. According to their findings, arson cannot be ruled out.
On the 11th of July 2023, Dmitry Dashkevich, a Christian political activist in Belarus who was imprisoned last year, was supposed to be released. However, the authorities unexpectedly arrested him again. Dmitry Dashkevich is a Belarusian activist, he was the leader of the Belarusian democratic movement "Young Front" in 2004-2015. He has been repeatedly detained by the authorities since the early 2000's, already serving two years in prison from 2011-2013.
In the past year, the door of the Saint Joseph church in Stadthagen was smeared with faeces, the holy water font was filled with urine, and now the sanctuary was found urinated as well. Due to these attacks, the church has decided to close its doors to the public during the day, says Father Markus Grabowski: "For months our church has been urinated in, multiple times. We're tired and don't know what else to do but to close."
The New Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales has published a new Trans Equality Statement that defines forms of abuse towards trans victims, including "withholding money for transitioning", "refusing to use their preferred name or pronoun" or "Body shaming or criticising the victim for not being 'a real man/woman' if they have not undergone reassignment surgery." It also states that these actions can be considered as domestic abuse by family members and partners. Therefore, the CPS guidance makes parents vulnerable to prosecution, if they do not agree with transgender children.
On the 7th of July, seed oil, which was supposed to be distributed to assisted families by Caritas was found smeared on the entrance of the Purgatoria al Castello church and convent in Carini, near Palermo. The vandals have not been identified.
On Friday,July 7 2023, in Nürnberg, Bavaria, a crucifix worth 200 euros placed on the altar of the Herz-Jesu church was stolen. The robbery happened around 1.30 PM in the afternoon. The police have started an investigation.
In the afternoon of the 7th of July, 2023, the Liebfrauenkirche in Waldshut-Tiengen was found vandalised: the Bible was torn and the Easter candle was damaged. It was used to hit the piano, which damaged the paintwork. The police have started an investigation.
The Saint-Martin Church in Avallon was found vandalised on the 5th of July, 2023. The tabernacle which contains the consecrated hosts was damaged and a monstrance and two ciboria (chalices which contain the hosts) were stolen. This is not the first incident of its kind in Avallon: on June 28th, the St-Lazare church was targeted and a pyx containing hosts was stolen. Two complaints have been filed.
Unknown vandals smeared the walls of a church in Kirchberg, Böbingen an der Rems, with unreadable graffiti and two Nazi swastikas. The damage was found on the 7th of July, the police are still searching for witnesses.
A Christian governor and mother who was dismissed for raising concerns with the trans-affirming sex-education policy at her children's primary school has been reinstated by the High Court. The mother, who was granted anonymity by the Court in order to protect her children, reached a legal settlement with the school after being kicked off its Governing Body for pointing to legal errors in its Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) policy. She first raised her concerns with fellow governors in March 2021. She pointed out that the Gateshead School's RSE policy could be unlawful, and shortly later, she was accused by the school managers of opposing their "collective decision." She was removed as governor in June 2022. The High Court recognized that the decision to remove her was unlawful and she was reinstated in August 2023.
In the early morning of July 4th 2023, a man set fire to the altar of the church Notre Dame de Kerdro in Locmariaquer, France. The fire was quickly brought under control by firefighters and only damaged the altar and some religious furniture. A complaint was filed to the police who arrested a 35-year-old man in connection to the fire. The man is set to be brought before the court in November.
Images of Jesus and Mary were beheaded and vandalized in a prayer garden in a district of Vienna, Austria. The prayer garden is considered a spiritual oasis for visitors. The alarm was raised by two bypassers who discovered the devastated prayer garden. The police have been notified and they are conducting investigations to identify the motives and the perpetrators. A video by "Project Telos" shows the devastation of several objects in the garden, and the direct targeting of the statues of Mary and Jesus.
In the evening of the 3rd of July, the firemen of the town of Schramberg, Germany, were called out to the church of Saint Maria - Heilig Geist where a stranger had set a table on fire in the back of the church. Dean Rüdiger Kocholl is deeply shocked and worries that the attack may have been planned. On top of setting the table on fire, new signs had been placed on the donation boxes, stating a new purpose for the donated money: for example, for drugs, alcohol and satanism.
A canvas painting that served as an altarpiece in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Ansbach was torn by a knife on Monday morning, the 3rd of July, 2023. The picture was made by the Ansbacher artist Georg Friedrich Bischoff (1819-1873). The restoration of the image is estimated to cost 2000-2500 euros.
In the night of July 1st to 2nd the St. Jakobus church in Rheinfeld am Rhein was severely vandalised. The intruders left without stealing anything but caused damages to the amount of 38 500€. Among other things, the intruders damaged an historical window and the church's organ. Police were notified and have started an investigation.
Multiple religious items were stolen on the night of the 30th of June to the 1st of July, 2023, at the Heilig Kreuz church in Mönchengladbach, Germany. The thieves came in by forcing the door to the church and from the main room there they came into the sacristy by breaking the window. Two individual patens were stolen and one chalice with paten was stolen. The police have started an investigation.
In a recent study by four universities focusing on religious experiences among university students showed that, although the majority of students perceived a diverse and open atmosphere to different religions, there was still a small percentage (10%) of students that felt pressured to withhold their beliefs. Christian students emerged prominently as one of the most affected religious groups, facing challenges and unique perceptions within secular academic environments.
A survey by Coventry University has detected varying levels of silencing among Christian students sharing experiences of prejudice and discrimination. Among students of other religions, Christian students stand out as feeling pressured to change their worldview.
On June 1, the statue of Mary was found destroyed in a church in Fonzaso. Perpetrators put the broken statue on the altar of the church. The statue was an important symbol for the church, which is named after the Nativity of Mary and the community is shocked about the incident.
On the 29th of June, the Irish Government approved legislation to introduce 100-metre buffer zones around abortion clinics similar to those already in place in Northern Ireland and with the PSPO's and the Public Order bill in England and Wales. In the same way as in the UK, the legislation does not distinguish between harassment and peaceful activism such as silent prayer or mere physical presence inside the buffer zone.
Between the 29th of June and the 6th of July the organ in the Herz Jesu church in Völklingen was damaged: tea lights were thrown against the pipes causing dents. The estimated damage is around 4000 euros. The police have started an investigation.