Serious damage inside the Church of the Assumption in Bra on August 20 has caused deep concern. Unknown persons broke into the building and destroyed the furnishings and furniture. The altarpiece depicting the Assumption of the Mary was damaged with numerous holes, the face of the statue of Mary was smeared with black paint, crucifixes were broken and damaged, the curtain of the canopy over the altar was torn, and the marble and tiles were removed from the floor under the miniature of the Lourdes grotto.
As reported on August 22, unknown perpetrators desecrated the church of Samartín de Güerces and stole objects of great religious and historical value: a chalice, a monstrance; lanterns, crosses and even lamps.
In August, someone stole money, keys and the personal belongings, including devotional objects, of a canon from the archpriest at the church of Saints Simon and Jude in Cartigliano. Earlier that month, someone destroyed flowers and vases on several graves in the town's cemetery.
A Christian charity volunteer has received a £13,000 payout and an apology from police after claiming her arrest for silently praying outside an abortion clinic was unjust and violated her human rights. While many see this as a victory for religious freedom, the new UK government is planning to introduce national legislation banning prayer outside abortion clinics.
Unknown vandals have smeared the walls of the city church in Haiger. According to police, "Allahu Akbar" was written on the walls.
An ornate historic oak bishop's chair, 100 years old and worth £500, has been stolen from the 13th-century All Saints' Church in Ashwicken between August 19- 23.
On the night from August 16 to 17, unknown persons destroyed a statue of Mary and other sacred objects in a chapel of a retirement home in Montecilfone.
Two churches in the Lot département suffered thefts of sacred objects on August 16 and 17, in Saint-Jean de Laure and Concots. These are the 4th and 5th thefts since the start of the year 2023 - and the 15th and 16th since the series of thefts began previous year.
On the night of 15 August (the Catholic Feast Day of the Assumption Mary), vandals destroyed an important stone cross in Tréport, France. The stone cross is more than 400 years old and was declared a historical monument in 1913.
A statue of Mary outside St Joseph Church in Wembley in the Diocese of Westminster, was smashed into pieces in the night of August 7, leaving behind the empty plinth. The parishioners are shocked. Police presence around the church will be reinforced.
On August 5, a cross in the fields of the Polish village Kościuki was vandalised again, following two previous incidents. This time, the vandals also cut up the figure of Jesus, which was attached to the cross, and threw the pieces in the bushes. The local community is shocked about the anti-religious hatred displayed by the act.
On the evening of August 5, unknown persons entered the church of the Most Precious Blood in Porto Recanati and, after forcing the tabernacle, took the hosts that had already been consecrated and were kept inside. During their escape, the thieves abandoned a chalice on the street. The parish priest alerted the police. Nothing else was stolen from the church.
On August 5, Parisian police arrested six Christians who were on a bus labelled with “Stop attacks on Christians” driving around Paris to bring attention to the Last Supper parody at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony and its anti-Christian message.
In the church of Saint-Pierre in Lège-Cap-Ferret, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the tabernacle was set on fire during the night of August 4. Furthermore, religious materials were smashed on the ground. The church will remain closed during the restoration. The police have started an investigation.
A member of the Baptist church in Middlesborough was attacked by far-right protesters as he prayed alongside a rally on 4 August.
The trial for “abuse of weakness” of the Catholic Missionary Family of Notre-Dame (FMND) raises concerns about the application of the recently amended French “anti-cult” law. At the trail, the experts solicited by the investigators presented some of basic principles of religious communities, such as the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, or silence and parts of the Catholic catechism, as “means of submission”.
On August 1, a 40-year-old man violently pushed an elderly woman who was praying in St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church to the ground, kicked her and took her bag. As a result of the attack, the woman suffered a laceration to her head and was taken to hospital where she was stitched up.
On July 31, three men broke into a church in Szydłów and caused €700 worth of damage.
On July 31, vandals partially forced open the front and outer doors of the sacristy of the church of Scalini, a hamlet of Arsiero, destroyed a plaster statue of St. Anthony holding the Infant Jesus, decapitated both figures, threw furniture on the ground, attempted break into the donation box, broke a stained glass window in the apse, and tore down a microphone.
In Northern Ireland, a court is set to rule on the case of a woman and a man who were arrested for praying inside an abortion "buffer zone" in October 2023. If found guilty in the current hearing, the woman who pleaded not guilty faces up to six months in prison. The police arrested them without any prior complaints about their presence on the street.
On the night of July 30, four young people broke into the Sant'Antonio Abate Church in Incisa Scapaccino, Asti. They broke into the entrance door, destroyed the cribs and sacred furniture, smeared the walls with spray cans and damaged the sound system for the services.
On the night of 27-28 July, vandals severely damaged a statue of Mary located at the entrance to the village of Kościuk. The statue's hands were cut off, a hole was punched in its head, its eyes were gouged out and its face destroyed. This was not the first act of vandalism against a religious object in the region.
Joshua Sutcliffe, a Christian maths teacher, lost his High Court appeal case after being banned from teaching for "misgendering" a pupil. The judge said that “just because misgendering a transgender pupil might not be unlawful does not mean that it is appropriate conduct for a teacher.”
According to an opinion poll by the think tank “Logos” published in The Herald on July 23, Christians in Scotland feel “excluded”. More than 70% feel the Scottish Government does not support them and 75% were concerned about abuse against Christian politicians.
In the night of Saturday, July 20 to Sunday, July 21, vandals defaced the façade of the church of Saint-Paul in Orne, France, with satanist graffiti. The tags included inverted crosses, pentagrams, and writings such as ‘False God’, ‘Liar’, and the number ‘666’, symbolising the devil. The statues on the façade were also sprayed with red paint, adding to the seriousness of the damage.
On Sunday, July 21, a 46-year-old woman was arrested in Tudela, Navarra, after threatening the priest who was officiating the Sunday mass and the congregation with a cutter. According to the Municipal Police of Tudela, the woman not only threatened with the cutter, but also broke the glass of the entrance door of the church by throwing a stone. This act of vandalism increased the level of alarm among those present, who quickly called the authorities.
A Swiss couple is taking legal action after their 16-year-old daughter was taken away from the parents and put into a government shelter due to the parents' objection to the daughter's "gender transitioning". The parents also said that doctors have been trying to administer puberty blockers to their daughter without their consent. The case has sent shockwaves around the world and raises severe concerns over the protection of parental rights, including for Christians objecting to the transitioning of their children.
Between Sunday, July 14 and Monday, July 15, vandals broke into the Parisian Notre-Dame-du-Travail Church, vandalised the building and left a number of Islamic anti-Christian graffiti, like "Submit yourselves to Allah infidels" and a knife planted in the throat of a statue of Mary.
On Saturday, July 13, unknown perpetrators broke into the sanctuary of the Madonna della Grotta, stole over 500 euro and beheaded the statue of the infant Jesus.
On July 13, fire was set to the church of St. Benedikt in the Allgäu community of Argenbühl-Eisenharz (Ravensburg district). This is already the second arson attack on the church this year. When the fire brigade arrived three pews were burning brightly, but the fire brigade was able to extinguish the fire quickly. However, according to initial estimates by the Catholic parish, severe damage was caused. The church is completely covered in soot.
On Wednesday afternoon, July 12, a group of young Christians aged between 16 and 23 were attacked on Lake Constance while they were reading bible verses over a megaphone on a rental boat.
On Monday evening, July 8, a man drove a truck into the Pentecostal Elim Church in Brunn am Gebirge, Austria. According to the police, this was a deliberate attack. The man confessed that he had acted out of anger, the perpetrator, however, is not known to the church.
On July 3 at around 11 am, the police discovered anti-police, anti-Semitic and anti-Christian tags in Croissy-sur-Seine (Yvelines, west of Paris). The writings were found on the wall of the Canotiers' underground car park. According to the news, the following slogans are written in metre-high letters: "ACAB", "FLIC = TUEUR", "FREE PALESTINE", and "À MORT LES JUIFS ET LES CHRÉTIENS", inciting to killing police, Jews and Christians.
On the night of June 29 to June 30, an unknown perpetrator damaged both hands of a statue of the Mary, which is located on Zielona Góra Street in Żary. The police are investigating the incident.
On Sunday, June 30, a disturbing event shook took place during a church service in Dijon. During the Seventh-Day Adventist Sunday service, which assembled about a hundred faithful at around 11:00 a.m., an unidentified individual entered the building and sprayed the assembly with tear gas. This unexpected attack caused panic and dismay among the participants, nine of whom were injured.
Belgian prelates Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels and former archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels Cardinal Jozef De Kesel were convicted by a Belgian court after they denied a woman entry into a diaconate formation program and ordered to pay compensation.
As reported on 26th June, 100 year old Rossington Methodist church in Doncaster has been destroyed due to fire. It is believed to be an arson attack. The church was added to the Local Heritage List last year. It has been closed for worship since 2019.
On June 23, militant gunmen attacked two churches and two synagogues in Russia’s North Caucasus republic Debrent. While numbers vary with sources, at least 25 people have been killed, including 4 civilians, 19 police officers and one priest, Father Nikolai Kotelnikov, and at least 46 people have been injured. The Church of Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an Orthodox Church in Derbent, was also set on fire. It was the Pentecost Sunday for the Russian Orthodox Church. The Islamic terrorists allegedly screamed “Allahu Akbar”. These attacks against Christians and Jews happened in the Muslim-predominant Dagestan region of South Russia, bordering Georgia and Azerbaijan.
From June 20 to 23 the Christian ecumenical conference UNUM24 took place in Munich. Despite the fact that it was a prayer meeting, focussing on common worship and faith, and the organisers highlighted that it was "not a platform for political or social disputes", demonstrations by LGBTIQ activists demanded the cancellation of the event as the Christians participating in the event were assumed to be "anti-LGBTIQ rights". The Third Mayor of the City of Munich, Verena Dietl, from the Social Democrats, even called the event a meeting of "different fundamentally Christian LGBTIQ* hostile actors" and expressed her regrets that she did not have any legal possibility to prevent the event.
On June 22, the local priest of St. Michael's Church in Windischbergerdorf noticed a pungent smell inside the church. A wooden stand had been set on fire and the Bible was also covered with soot. Earlier, the priest has noticed 3 children riding away from the church on their bikes. The police believe that the fire was arson. The damage is estimated to be around 300 EUR.
Between June 20 and 21, a window of the Church of Reconciliation on Poststrasse in Völklingen was smashed. The damage is estimated to be around 300 euros.
As reported on June 12 by CNE, two Christian pro-life organisations in Sweden and the Netherlands, have experienced "debanking". Mats Selander, who started the pro-life organisation Center for Bioethical Reform in Sweden (CBR-S) was forced to end his 30 year customer relationship with Scandinavian Bank Nordea. The bank subsequently even closed down his private account. He was not given any explanation besides "not enough customer knowledge", despite having disclosed all his transactions. Salender believes it is due to his pro-life views. With increasing regulations, many banks have been shutting down customers for their beliefs.
As reported on June 20, the Supreme Court of Italy has ruled between Breccia di Roma, an evangelical church, and the Italian tax authorities. The authorities had refused to give the Breccia di Roma Church tax-exemption under Italian law, available to all religious places of worship, on the grounds that its premises lacked the “intrinsic characteristics” of a religious building. The Supreme Court now backed the decision by the tax authorities. This ruling raises massive concerns about discrimination of evangelical churches in Italy.
As reported on June 20, several graves were found vandalised in the Tilloy cemetery in Beauvais. Pots were overthrown, flowers were on the ground, plaques were broken.
As reported on June 19, the Church of St. Wojciech in Krakow was vandalised with vulgar graffiti, expressing hatred towards the Catholic church, the Vatican, and accusing the clergy of pedophilia. They also destroyed the facade of the church, where Saint Wojciech once used to preach.
As reported on June 19, Vandalism occurred at the Kettuvaara Cemetery in Joensuu. Someone broke into the cemetery's maintenance building, broke lanterns and scattered them on graves and left taps running.
On June 17, a church in Borna was found defaced with graffiti in red paint reading "Satan" and "666" in several places. The church pews, a wall and a table cloth were also damaged with red paint.
On June 13, there was an arson attack on the Notre-Dame-de-Délivrance Basilica in Quintin. The police have confirmed that the fire was deliberate.
On June 13, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in Dániel Karsai v. Hungary, held that Member States could continue to prohibit assisted suicide. The Court ruled in favour of Hungary that prohibiting euthanasia and assisted suicide was in accordance with the “right to life” under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and under international law. With some countries limiting the right to freedom of conscience of medical personal objecting to euthanasia objectors to euthanasia, this ruling is of particular importance.
As reported on June 12, a man broke into the 11th-century church of St. Michael in Dublin and started a fire in the crypt containing 5 medieval mummies. They were damaged beyond repair. The man is now on trial.