On April 12th, the Vejleå Church in Ishøj was vandalized with phrases such as, "We conquer Denmark," and, in Arabic, "There is no God but Allah."
Vandals spray-painted anarchist slogans on the walls of the Byzantine-era Church of Prophet Elias in Thessaloniki.
Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, wrote to all Church of England clergy and volunteer hospital chaplains warning them not to minister to any sick or dying hospital patients showing symptoms of the Corona virus. The intention of this effective ban is to reduce the risk of spreading the infection. However, according to Christian Today reporting on 9 April 2020: “The guidance applies only to temporary volunteer chaplains. Full-time NHS chaplains are permitted to continue ministering face to face”.
An unknown perpetrator smashed the window of Christ Church in Graz with a stone and then set newspapers on fire and threw them inside the church through the smashed window. Fortunately, the burning newspapers did not cause a fire inside the church. Witnesses saw the incident and reported it to the police, who asked for help in finding the perpetrator.
St. Mary Church, St. Nicholas Church, and the Church of the Holy Spirit have been vandalized with anti-COVID graffiti. The churches in Flensburg have been repeatedly vandalized with letters written in red on the façade. "I find this method of expressing opinions completely inappropriate," says the pastor of St. Mary's parish.
The Church of St. Edward was found vandalized with graffiti on the 7th April. The Priest of the Church, Father Callum Brown, expressed his concern.
On Palm Sunday morning, the local police interrupted a Mass celebrated on a rooftop by the priest of the Church of the Paúls in Triana. The members of the community had improvised an altar and lectern. The priest used a speaker to reach the nearest residential blocks. While some residents informed the police saying the rules were being violated, other citizens were angry at the officers for interrupting the Mass. The priests said there were only eight of them on the rooftop, and they all lived in the same house. There was a confrontation between the neighbors supporting the Mass and the ones against it.
On April 6, a the Priest Father Domenico Cirigliano was fined and arrested for 14 days by the police, as he was carrying the miraculous Crucifix from the Church of Blessed Virgin Mary in Rocca Imperiale. He was doing a personal procession through the streets, keeping enough distance from other individuals and his assistant. The Father had told the parishioners he would bless the city in this form of reduced procession. The police reported the act as public departure, not motivated by employment, need or health reasons and had made a demonstration or religious act affecting the streets. In other cities the processions were allowed by the civil authorities.
The model of the basilica of San Simplicio in Olbia, a meticulous reconstruction and a symbol of the city, was damaged by vandals. Unknown perpetrators broke the roof and the top of the facade. This incident occurred while the city was on lock-down due to the corona virus. It was not the first time the monument had been vandalized.
On Sunday 5th April, Father Jean Baptiste Gless noted the degradation and theft at the Church Saint-Laurent of Lambezellec in Brest. The candlesticks and candles were overturned and the lamp of the tabernacle was stolen. The parish priest refuses to close the doors of the church due to the degradation, because he says the perpetrators shall not win, he always leaves the door open in the morning, so that people can meditate and pray. During the Lockdown, the priest also prayed for the people of the town, and he hung a sign on the facade saying "Take care of you all, we pray for you".
Unknown intruders vandalized the parish offices of the San Giovanni Maria Vianney of Amabilina church in Marsala. The printer and the drawer of the photocopier were opened and the electrical wire was cut. Nothing was stolen because money and valuables had been removed while the church remains closed due to corona virus precautions.
Sometime during Holy Week unknown perpetrators broke open a glass case in the St. Joseph Church in the Miquelstraße in Osnabrück and stole a golden cross. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
On 3. April, the national Police evacuated the church of San Servando y San Germán, in the district La Laguna of Cádiz. The Police said that the security measures for the Covid-19 Pandemic were not being held at the mass. The parish priest wrote afterwards an open letter, assuring that the fifteen parishioners in the Mass were taking the right measures, and that the evacuation was not justified.
Following the incident where The Open Doors Church was unfairly accused of spreading the Covid-19 infections, Christians have experienced intolerance and hate-speech all around France. Thierry Le Gall, from the national evangelical Council, mentions that in the last weeks they collected a lot of violent comments on social media, saying that the Christians should be erased or that they should not be in the country. Also, Pastors have received threats through letters and phone calls. Le Gall believes these attacks are because of ignorance about religion, intolerance and a scapegoat mechanism.
An unknown person smashed a window of the evangelischen Gemeinde Mainz-Laubenheim with a stone between April 1st and 2nd. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
On the 31. March two police agents knocked on the door of the Church in Valldoreix and said to the priest "It's prohibited to open the Church and you are a murderer." They denounced the priest, although there were only five people present including the priest, and the Mass was celebrated with the regulations and on a legal basis.
On March 30th between 09:00 and 19:45, unknown perpetrators broke into the Catholic church in the Brüder-Grimm-Straße in Vellmar. They opened the door of the sacristy, the organ control panel, the cover of the baptismal font, the safe, and searched several cupboards before fleeing in an unknown direction. The total damage amounts to 1.000 euro. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
Sunday afternoon unknown perpetrators set fire to the catholic church in the Sudetenstraße in Rohrbach. A stacks of newspapers caught fire at the rear entrance of the church. The firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, so only the church walls and the door were slightly affected. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
An unclear regulation about churches caused difficulties between churches and police. The Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, president of the Italian bishops' conference, asked the government to clarify these rules. During the Lockdown, the churches were allowed to be opened, but the assistance of a Mass was not declared as a vital necessity. The police raided several Mass being celebrated by small groups of people separated throughout the church and some bishops received reports of hundreds of euros for organising a mass.
During the night between the 28th and 29th of March unknown people vandalized several tombstones, knocked over plaques and crosses, and broke many candles in the parish cemetery in Wysoka, despite the corona virus lockdown measures in Poland. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.