Norwegian child services have begun the adoption process for five children who were seized from a Romanian Pentecostal family in November after concerns were expressed about the parents' Christian faith, the family says.
The shelling of the Cologne Cathedral with fireworks and firecrackers on New Year's evening between 6:30 and 7:45 pm was a targeted disruption of the service.
The figure of the nearly life-size Christ child was burned in a crib display on December 31 at about 10 pm, while the faces of his parents and a wall of the adjacent Catholic church were tagged with spraypaint.
Approximately 800 students at a Catholic school in Madrid’s southern Carabanchel district have been excluded from a local parade by city authorities.
Similar to the attacks on the Cologne Cathedral on New Year's Eve, hundreds of men gathered in front of the Lorenzkirche in Nuremberg and shot firework missiles at its roof.
The figure of the infant Jesus was stolen first, and the figures of his parents, Mary and Joseph were stolen the next day, along with the crib and straw.
During the night between December 27th and 28th, the city's nativity display was burned and partially destroyed.
Mayor Pierre La Fonte was awakened at 2am by the police, who reported that the creche in a public square had been vandalized.
Several religious statues, among which Jesus Christ was central, as well as a commemorative plaque and the floor were all spray painted red in a grotto altar in Libaux.
Network Rail, partly funded by taxpayer money, argued it was "overtly Christian" and that it would offend "multi-cultural values".