Three young men entered the church of Saint-Martin of Conas at approximately 8:00 p.m. They broke a stained window, set fire in the sacristy, broke crosses, statues, benches and chairs and damaged the main altar. The damage which was discovered the next morning, are estimated to a cost of 50 to 100.000 euros.
Individual religious communities in Turkey are restricted in their training of clergy. The Turkish legislation does not provide for private higher religious education for minorities and such opportunities are inexistent in the public education system.
The traditional school break during Easter was renamed: the Education Council of Castilla-La Mancha decided to call the Easter holidays "break between trimesters". A similar proposal was suggested in Barcelona but it did not succeed as the original name was considered to be not only linked to Christianity, but also to the traditions and the history of the region.
The Cataluña National Theatre (TNC) in Barcelona is showing “Gang Band” from March 24th to April 17th 2011, during Lenten time. The plot describes the environment of a gay bar during the Pope’s visit to Barcelona. The play uses quotations from the Bible and the characters mock Christian traditional roles and beliefs. The TNC receives public funds to support culture and arts.
After anti-chapel demonstrations had taken place at Computense University in Madrid and Barcelona University, students of the University of Valencia called to march against chapel service at the Valencia School of Medicine. At the end, the rally did not take place.
The representative of the "Left United", MP Antonio Juan Romero Losana, supported the request made by secularist campaigner Manuel Navarro to remove the crucifix located in the sessions room at the Almeria Parliament. Romero Losana affirmed: "the presence of the cross bothers me". The painting referred to was done by Romero Losada and displays a cross. It is displayed in the local parliament because it constitutes a part of the historic heritage of Almería and has high artistic value.
During the night of March 22th, early morning of March 23th, 2011, a group of radical feminists started a fire at the doors of San Vicenç Church, in the Sarriá neighbourhood, in Barcelona. According to the priest Manuel Valls this was the fifth attack against the church in the last three years.
Non-Muslim religious communities living in Turkey report difficulties opening, maintaining, and operating houses of worship. These groups may not build new churches because of the often arbitrary refusals to issue construction permits for places of worship. The reason behind this discriminatory behaviour is the fact that all unofficial meetings for religious minorities are considered potentially subversive.
More than fifty graves have been vandalized: funeral ornaments, flower pots and crucifix have been broken. Windows were damaged and tagged with the satanic number «666».
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had ruled on November 3rd, 2009, that the display of crucifixes in public schools restricted religious freedom. "The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities ... restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions." The judgment was overturned on March 18th, 2011.
An Italian school from Genova, Pertini-Diaz, rejected Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco’s visit. The spokesperson for Pertini-Diaz expressed concerns about the pastoral purpose of the visit, and the security staff that the cardinal would bring along with him. The Pertini-Diaz school would however welcome a non-pastoral visit.
The Ascensión del Señor Church, located in the Madrid suburb of Carabanchel, a working class neighborhood, has suffered the loss of their most precious sacred items, the chalice with the Eucharist and the Holy Oils. The Church, build 60 years ago in a poor vicinity, has no item of value, and "the burglars knew about it", affirms Francisco Pérez, the church Pastor. Fr. Perez adds: "They only took the most precious treasure for our community, the body of Christ".
On March 11, 2011, Paula Nieto, the President of the Students Union at the Complutense University in Madrid, reported incidents at the Moncloa campus law school chapel in a radio interview. According to Nieto, several students locked themselves in the chapel, smoked weed and drank beer, while making statements against the Catholic Church. Nieto argues the attacks come from an ultra-left student group named Contrapoder.
At Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) a group of 50 young people stormed the chapel of the Somosaguas university campus to protest against the Catholic Church.
The way of the Cross of the calvary of Bercianos de Aliste in the diocese of Zamora (Spain) was vandalised. Three ancient granite crosses were highly damaged. Father Lorenzo Martin, parish priest of San Mamed was shocked and filed a complaint.
The windows of a pharmacy in Berlin’s Neukölln district were shattered because the owner does not sell the so called “morning-after-pill” due to his catholic convictions.
Catholic catechism teacher of a Zagreb primary school was accused of homophobia for staying in line with the Catholic Church teachings during catechism classes.
Experienced foster parents lose rights to foster due to religious beliefs on homosexuality. Appeal to High Court lost.
On February 28th, 2011, an unknown number of people broke in the parish house of Tarcin and stole various objects.
A marble grave stone was destroyed and the tomb opened.
Report on Religious Freedom Issues in Serbia: Read here a list of incidents of intolerance against Christians from November 2008 to February 2011.
Media reports that the tabernacle containing the Holy Communion was stolen from San Cristóbal Parish in Moral de Hornuez (Segovia).
Under the headline: “Get bishops out of our law-making”, journalist Mr. Hari hit out at the bishops for voting against measures within the highly controversial Equality Bill and for their stance on end-of-life issues.
Homosexual Polish soccer fans are demanding that a separate seating section be created at the 2012 European Soccer Championship in Poland; they claim that gays and lesbians might otherwise be subjected to harassment and violence. Associated Press Sports Editor, Ms. Terry Taylor, reported about this plea with the following comment: "Homophobia also remains deeply embedded in Poland because of the legacy of communism which treated homosexuality as a taboo and the teachings of the church in the predominantly Roman Catholic country."
On February 23rd, 2011 it was reported that someone had broken into a Christian parish house of Sarajevo and stolen property. A few days later, on February 28th, the same facts occurred in a Christian monastery of Sarajevo.
An unknown number of people broke in the Cathedral of Sarajevo, stole various objects and damaged the interior of the Christian place of worship.
Due to “security reasons”, a glass panel has been set up in order to prevent any worshippers from entering the chapel of the University of Valladolid. The Christian student union “AJIO” met with the president of the university in order to express frustration over such a barrier. Their complaints were not heard, however, as the only answer received from the faculty remains, “God is everywhere. Go away to pray in the field.”
The small church of Briosne-les-Sables was vandalized; the door was broken opened and the altar was damaged. Claude Trouillet, mayor of Briosne-les-Sables and the parish priest Father Jean-Marc have filed a complaint.
Unknown perpetrators have destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary by pulling it from the altar in a church in Schaan / Liechtenstein.
The Chapel of Caubin, a XIIth century Historical Monument was the target of vandalism on Saturday, February 19th. Three windows were broken open with stones, lanterns and projector destroyed and crosses of the cemetery broken into pieces.
After a fire was set at the doors of Santa Catalina Mártir Church in Majadahonda on December 25th, 2010, the tabernacle containing two communion vessels was stolen in February 2011. The perpetrators used a lever to commit the crime, and took advantage of the fact that the Chuch doors remain open for prayers and meetings.
A Conservative MP has said the House of Commons should stop saying prayers at the start of its proceedings. The contentious proposal could, Jo Johnson MP said, “save three or four minutes every day” and would better reflect the UK.
The Christian General Practitioner (GP) was sacked as a Government drugs adviser because he co-wrote a study linking homosexuality to paedophilia. In June 2011 he announced to take legal action to answer “increasing attempts” to marginalise Christians in public life.
Ten to twelve graves were desecrated in the cimetery of Silhol in Alès. Stone crosses were broken and thrown to the floor. Funeral ornaments were destroyed and the door of a tomb was damaged.
A Christian family of Kakanj suffered repeated verbal attacks and threats. They finally decided to leave their home as the pressure was becoming unbearable.
The lands surrounding the Syrian-orthodox monastery of Mor Gabriel, near Midyat in South-Eastern Turkey, have been expropriated by Turkey’s supreme court. According to the verdict, the treasury of Turkey has a right to claim the lands.
At the University of Barcelona protests by a group of secular students against the Catholic liturgical service on campus, including the interruption of the service, led to a cancelation of the weekly Wednesday Mass - until the University would be able to guarantee the safety of attending students.
EU Foreign Ministers rejected a draft resolution condemning the atrocities against Christian minorities in Egypt and Iraq, as they could not agree on the word ‘Christian’ in their draft statement in an effort to remain "politically correct."
A Catholic religion teacher was forced to remove a cross and an icon from a wall of a shared office in a secondary school in Zújar, Spain because two teachers said they were "offended" by them.
Mr. Günther Annen demonstrated in front of the abortion clinic of Dr. Karl-Heinz Jordan twice in August 2010, displaying a sign which said: „Why does Dr. Karl-Heinz Jordan kill unborn children?“ He was sentenced for insult to a penalty of 1500 € by the Darnstadt public prosecutor's office on Jan. 25, 2011.
The European Parliament has issued a condemnation of a Lithuanian bill that seeks to prohibit the “public promotion of homosexual relations.” The bill proposes fines of between €580 and €2,900; it has not yet been passed by the Plenary of the Lithuanian Parliament and is still under review.
On January 17th, 2011, the church of Blagan-Buna (Mostar) was attacked with stones and its windows crashed.
A Christian Church building in Hérouville-Saint-Clair, the outskirts of Caen, was vandalized at about 6 am on a Sunday morning. The Church of St. Francis, partially burned, cannot not accommodate the faithful until rebuild.
A group of teenagers was causing great damage in the parish church of St. Barbara in Peißenberg over a longer period of time. They tossed down lamps, lit numerous candles and burnt death cards, rumpled altar cloths and stuffed them into the holy water vessel; they threw altar candles around in the church, and wrote with chalk on the church’s door. The sacristan had to dump 40 liters of holy water twice, and clean the distribution vessel, in which the youth had urinated.
A satirical cartoon depicting Pope Benedict XVI was shown in Italy’s public television RAI2. In the cartoon, the Pope says about Silvio Berlusconi since he “likes minors, he can always become a priest”. This caused quite an uproar as it was considered as defamatory.
Christian Copts in Europe, particularly in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, celebrated Christmas on January 6th under special police protection.
On Saturday January 1st between 12 a.m. and 3 p.m. the church of Montfermeil was severely damaged and partially burned. According to sources, a group of individuals forced and broke the door to the place of worship with the help of a car. They then set fire to a bunch of paper that was inside the church. Thus, three additional rooms, including the room used for worship of children, were damaged and must now be rebuilt.
The parish church Sainte Claire of Aiguefonde (Tarn) was victim of series of vandalism attacks. Given the amount of the damage, the church will have to be completely restored in order to prevent the window and vault from collapsing.
The Council of the European Union proposed a visa liberalisation action plan for Moldova without much room for negotiations about the conditions: in a unilateral document, it was required to accept policies which would potentially infringe on the freedom of conscience or expression as well as that of religious institutions and organisations.
Faithful of the parish St John in Avignon are being annoyed, often during the mass service, by insults and agressions, thefts, attempts of arson, and even a car bomb left by Muslim youth. The little community of Christians in a city which hosts an arabic-moslem majority begins to feel afraid of praying together. The parish priest understands that there is a "startling code of silence both for media and politics about the issue".