The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Equality, the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council and La Caixa funded the Forum Libertat 2010 on the same days on which the historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Santiago and Barcelona took place. The Forum advocated the withdrawal of the public presence of the Catholic Church.
The parents of two students of the public school Ortega y Gasset in Almendralejo (Badajoz) succeeded in their campaign to remove crucifixes from classrooms and prohibit religious ceremonies. The school parent association, who opposes these decisions, called for a protest.
Saint-John’s parish near Avignon has been the target of a number of threats and intimidations: insulting tags in the church’s walls, feces thrown on the church, a young man even entered the church during mass, urinated and screamed to the parishioners: “we’ll toast you all in fire, you and your church”. A fire was also started in a tree growing against the church, probably in order to burn the church itself. Father Gabriel, the parish priest, regrets and condemns “an increasingly aggressive and violent climate”.
A group of male gay rights activists attacked members of the Orthodox youth movement "Georgievtsy!" outside the Council of Europe office in Moscow, who gathered against the European Court of Human Rights ruling declaring Russia's ban on gay pride marches illegal.
Msgr. Leonard faces accusations of homophobia for expressing controversial positions on the causes of HIV/AIDS.
The 150 faithful attending holy mass on Tuesday, November 2nd, in the Church of Saint Jacques du Viguier were the target of two teenagers who entered the church to throw stones on the faithful. An eldery person was slightly injured and a statue of the virgin Mary was damaged.
The Teaching Council of Ireland is using a Code of Professional Conduct that could lead to religion teachers being found guilty of “professional misconduct” for teaching core parts of their faith.
On the road to Lahontan, in Bellocq, south of Daw, a Calvary scened called Palin, was covered by an entire pig’s head, attached to the wood by a piece of string.
The Greek-Orthodox Church, school, and community in Turkey has been gradually stripped of rights by the Turkish government. European law organizations declare this a violation of human rights.
Vandals broke in the XIIth century church of Saint Laurent de Billière, near Pau, on Friday, October 29th. The tabernacle was forced opened and the consecrated hosts scattered on the ground.