Police Investigate Severe Desecration at Notre-Dame des Enfants in Nîmes
The prosecutor's office in Nîmes opened an investigation after severe desecration was discovered in the church of Notre-Dame des Enfants. A cross was drawn on a wall with excrement on which pieces of consecrated hosts were stuck. The tabernacle was broken and other consecrated hosts were destroyed.
The Bishop of Nîmes, Robert Wattebled. issued a statement on February 8th:
"The desecration of Notre-Dame-des-Enfants Church in Nîmes greatly affects our diocesan community. The sign of the cross and the Blessed Sacrament have been the subject of serious injurious actions. This act of profanation hurts us all in our deepest convictions.
Under these conditions, worship can no longer be celebrated in this building until the profanation has been repaired by a penitential rite whose date is not yet fixed.
Already, the Carmelites, Cistercians and Poor Clares of the Diocese have agreed to observe a day of fasting and worship, as compensation for acts of vandalism. In their own way, all the Catholic communities will be able to associate themselves with this prayer, in the way that will seem appropriate to them."
Sources: Midi Libre, Le Parisien, and L'Observatoire de la Christianophobie (see a photo of the desecration there)
Update: Le Figaro