On December 19th, the Anti-Fascist Brigades (BAF) claimed responsibility for the theft of a baby Jesus from the Plaza Mayor in Castellón. They posted on Facebook that they demand the release of Catalan politicians who are in prison to return the figure. In the place of the Statuette, they left a yellow ribbon, which is the symbol of the Catalan political leaders.
On December 18th, a judge in an employment tribunal ruled against Maya Forstater, a tax expert at the Centre for Global Development, who defended her right to say on social media that men cannot become ‘women’ by undergoing gender reassignment treatment. Employment Judge Taylor ruled that her belief that biological sex cannot be changed “did not have the protected characteristic of a philosophical belief.” She had tweeted that “men cannot change into women” as part of an argument about the government’s proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act. This was not deemed a "protected belief" under the Equality Act 2010.
During the night from the 17th to 18th of December, the crèche installed on Place Charles-de-Gaulle and Christmas decorations at the town hall were destroyed. The heads of the life-sized figures representing Mary, Joseph and two wise men were cut off, and arms torn off. Garlands and fir trees in front of the town hall were damaged or stolen. “We are still in a Judeo-Christian country," said the mayor, "we can believe it or not, it remains deplorable to attack a crèche and decorations. We do that for the children... they were shocked this morning seeing all this damage."
The 2019 edition of the living crèche in Toulouse had to be shortened after the intervention of counter-demonstrators in front of frightened children. Around fifty far-left demonstrators whistled at the choir, chanted blasphemous songs, and insulted participants before coming to blows with some, arguing "that this event was illegal in a secular state."
An obscene and insulting poster was discovered on display outside Rome’s Museum of Modern Art. Titled “ECCE HOMO ERECTUS,” the poster portrays Jesus as a pedophile.
In Saint-Just-en-Bas (Loire), 300 m² of the roof of the local church went up in flames on Sunday, December 15, during the morning Mass. An official of the commune sounded the alert when he saw an unusual smoke coming from the nave. The church was evacuated and no casualties were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
On December 14th, unknown vandals beheaded the statue of St. Joseph, placed the ox and the donkey figures in an obscene position, and threw litter inside the small nativity scene installed by municipal volunteers in Angolo Terme .
Video surveillance captured the images of two sets of vandals attacking the nativity scene installed in the Lecce Piazza Duomo during the early morning hours (1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.) of December 12th.
A few weeks after four churches around Munich were painted with leftist slogans, the Salesianum, a Catholic youth center run by the religious community of Don Bosco, was vandalized with swastikas, SS runes, and "Widerstand Süd," a neo-Nazi network. According to reports, the location was likely not chosen by chance, because the Salesianum also looks after underage refugees.
The windows of St. Peter's Church in Hüsten in Germany were damaged by vandals who were caught throwing stones. After witnesses heard the sound of stones hitting the church, police patrol cars caught the perpetrators. An investigation continues
In the name of secularism, the director of the Gustave Ansart school group, a public establishment in the commune of Thiant, Academy of Lille, refused to permit a visit from Saint Nicholas inside the school. This departs from a well-established tradition and one eagerly awaited by school children.
The outer walls of the parish of Sant'Agostino in Bisceglie were vandalized with spray-painted graffiti during the night between the 8th and 9th of December. According to the parish priest, this is not the first time he has had to go to the police to file a complaint. "I have been asking for help to find a solution for 5 years," he explained.
Europa Laica wrote to demand "the denunciation and repeal of the 1979 Agreements with the Holy See, and those of 1992 with other confessions", as well as the "priority of public and secular schools, free of religious indoctrination or of any kind, as a way of overcoming the inequality generated by an educational system in concert with the Catholic school financed by the public treasury." Additionally, the group demands the abolishment of the economic and fiscal privileges enjoyed by the Catholic Church, as well as the promulgation of a "Freedom of Conscience" law.
A line of Christmas cards produced by British card company 'Love Layla' caused controversy for including messages mocking some of the deeply held beliefs of the Christian faith. The cards included taglines which call into question the Virgin Mary's miraculous conception, and which refer to Jesus as "a bloke that wore socks with sandals." Speaking to the Daily Mirror, James Mildred, for Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) said, "A lot of Christians will be deeply offended by this sort of thing...It highlights a fundamental hypocrisy that Christianity is seen as fair game to mock, disparage and insult."
Unidentified vandals looted some tombstones and graves, in the Cemetery of Salerno. They stole flower boxes, frames, and metal writings on the tombs. It was not the first time the cemetery was the target of vandalism, for which the institutions in charge demand more control of the premises.
During the night of December 7th (the night before they were to be displayed), unknown vandals damaged the nativity figures in Palau. The town's inhabitants, along with the artist Mario Spano, known as Marieddu, who spent months making them by hand, were dismayed by the act.
Police suspect leftist activists were responsible for the vandalism of four Munich-area churches that left parishioners outraged and dismayed. Slogans such as "Burn the churches down" and "Neither God nor master - destroy the patriarchy" were painted on the entrances of the churches resulting in thousands of euros in damage.
Crucifixes and a fountain from a chapel in Alpbach. A gilded statue of the Virgin Mary from the parish church in Kufstein. A baroque monstrance from a church in Pfaffstätten, host bowls in Biedermannsdorf -- these are just a few examples of sacred art objects that were stolen from Austrian churches in 2019.
A drunk man was arrested by Lyon police for setting fire to a garbage can placed against the door of the Saint-Georges church. The fire caused extensive to the door and smoke damage inside the church.
During the night, the small temple, the known as Our Lady of Carmen girl in Almeria, has dawned looted and partially destroyed. The carving of Jesus as a child was stolen, the picture was damaged, and the pedestal had breaks.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution which calls "for an end to violations against the freedom of Christians and other religious minorities to worship."
A Christian pastor and school caretaker, who received abuse and threats for a June 2019 tweet about LGBTQ Pride has taken legal action against the school which he felt forced to leave. His case was heard on Court on January 2022.
The car owned by the parish priest of Basilica di Maria SS di Monserrato in Vallelonga was destroyed in an arson attack on December 2nd while it was parked near the church. Press reports described the incident as "intimidation" of the priest and shocking to locals. The priest discovered the fire and contacted the fire brigade and police from the Compagnia Serra San Bruno began an arson investigation.
On November 30th 2019, unknown perpetrators sprayed two swastikas around the entrance doors of the Sankt-Nicolai-Kirche in Magdeburg. A police spokesman said the symbols were illegal and would be immediately painted over. Police continued to investigate the case, but state security services were likely to take over the investigation.
During an interpellation debate in the parliament on November 29th, Justice Minister Morgan Johansson was asked by MP Hans Eklind about an asylum case in which a person who converted from Islam was interviewed by a Muslim officer in veil at the Migration Board. The officer subsequently denied the claim, finding his conversion to be false. Johansson was asked how the government ensures that the Swedish Migration Board fulfills its obligations to legal quality and uniform application of the law where religious views are invoked.
Roar Fløttum was preaching and praying for the sick on a Trondheim street on November 27th when he interacted with four Muslim men. According to Fløttum, the men asked him to come with them to pray for a friend. He agreed and when they got him to a backyard, they pushed him down a cellar staircase, beat him, robbed him, and threatened to kill him if he did not convert to Islam. Police, who have called this a very serious incident, are reviewing street camera footage to identify the perpetrators.
On November 27th the anarchist acronym "ACAB", which stands for All Cops Are Bastards (all cops are bastards) was sprayed on the wall of the Saint Pierre Church in Mordelles. The tag measured 3 by 1 meters and was erased by the municipal services of the commune of Mordelles.
School leadership at a Wil elementary school in the Swiss Canton of St. Gallen made the decision to remove the three Advent/Christmas songs from the program of its year-end show, out of "respect for other cultures and religions." Teachers were reportedly "astonished" at the decision and the President of the Coordination of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, encouraged schools not to change their traditions: "From our point of view, it is very regrettable when Christian songs are no longer sung in a Christian country," he said.
A High Court judge ruled in favor of an exclusion zone around a school in Birmingham permanent, preventing parents from protesting outside the grounds against the "No Outsiders" primary school programme that teaches about LGBT relationships. Many parents and activists claim the programme contradicts their faith and is not "age appropriate." A temporary exclusion zone was first imposed by the courts in the summer after months of protests outside Anderton Park Primary School by mostly Muslim parents. Birmingham City Council claimed that the order was sought from the courts over safety concerns.
The Christkind (Christ child) figure was stolen twice in three days from the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market) on Enkplatz in Vienna. The original figure was replaced after the first theft. The replacement was then stolen. Now it has been replaced, at least temporarily, with a wooden stake with a woolen cap on top. Locals expressed outrage at the thefts and the priest of the adjacent church offered to receive the figure "discreetly" from anyone who wished to return it.
On the 26th of November, the Baby Jesus of the Nativity Scene was reported to be stolen twice. The leader of the 11th District, Paul Stadler, promised to restore a Statue before Christmas. There was no trace of the stolen figures. The Father from the neighbouring parish offered the thieves to give back the statues anonymously in front of the church and to confess if they are interested.
Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine Church and Saint-Sauveur Basilica in Rennes were burglarized during the night of November 24th to 25th by unknown thieves. The doors were pried open with crow bars and offertory trunks were broken. The parish priest of Notre-Dame called the incident "ugly and hurtful."
The Grotto of Notre-Dame de Lourdes of l'église Saint-Pierre ("Dompeter") in Avolsheim (Bas-Rhin) was found sprayed with the contents of one or more fire extinguishers. Nestled in the middle of the fields, the isolated site is known by many Alsatians as the church is the oldest in Alsace and is on the Pilgram's Way of Saint-Jacques-de-Compostela (Camino de Santiago). In the field adjoining the grotto, large tracks of a vehicle were noted. The police began an investigation.
On November 23rd, unknown perpetrators stole sacred objects from the church of Lachau, in the South-Drôme. A chalice, two vases and a ciborium were stolen, according to the observations made by the gendarmes of the Buis-les-Baronnies. The police is investigating.
Graffiti reading "Death to the Clerofascists" (Smrt klerofašistom) was painted on the outside of the Church of St. Mary, Mother of the Church in late October; and on the St. Barbara Chapel on Calvary, Maribor Hill and on the Catholic High School in Maribor in November by unknown vandals. Police opened an investigation.
On the afternoon of November 21st, two men broke a door and entered the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in the Tarbes city center to commit serious vandalism. The unidentified vandals tore up and burned Mass books and then soiled them with human excrement; at least one of them urinated against a wall. A statue of St. John the Baptist was thrown at the pews, a crucifix was toppled and thrown to the ground, and a fire extinguisher was emptied in the church. The organ was opened and microphone wires were torn out. The perpetrators fled when a parishioner entered to pray.
An atheist couple who launched a High Court challenge because they feel their children are being religiously "indoctrinated" during assemblies have won their judicial review claim. The Burford primary school in the Cotswolds in Oxfordshire is one of 33 schools of the Church of England's Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust (ODST). Although parents were already entitled to withdraw their children from assemblies, even in church-run schools, The Harrises have argued that the school must provide an "inclusive assembly as a meaningful alternative for pupils withdrawn from Christian worship," rather than simply supervision of the children.
In October 2018, an elderly nun applied for a place in a retirement home in Vesoul, run by the city's Centre Communal d'Action Sociale (CCAS) in her home prefecture of Haute-Saone. After nine months on the waiting list, on July 2019, her request for housing was accepted, but with one condition: "With due respect for secularism, any ostentatious sign of belonging to a religious community cannot be accepted in order to ensure the serenity of all. Indeed, religion is a private affair and must remain so." The nun was told she could only wear a discreet cross. Having worn her religious habit all of her adult life, she refused to comply and was thus denied a place.
On November 18th, five young people were arrested for vandalism at the church Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais. Vandalism included urinating in confessionals and holy water stoups, tearing up a book, and attempting to set fire to the altar cloth.
On the afternoon of November 16th, an unidentified man entered the Trasfigurazione del Signor church in Scorrano while it was empty and stole money from the donation box and a golden necklace from around the neck of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Before leaving the church, he urinated on the altar underneath the crucifix. The incident was captured on video and police are investigating the identity of the individual.
A visitor to the St. Katharina Kirche in Buschhoven discovered that a fire had been set in the church during the early afternoon of November 16th. Local media reports that books and booklets were placed on top of the lit candlesticks in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary, revered by Christians and pilgrims as the "Rosa Mystica." The books caught fire and the church was enveloped in a huge mass of smoke and soot before the fire brigade was able to extinguish the blaze. Earlier in the week, a fire had been set in the same church using the candles but was extinguished before major damage occurred.
The Protestant Versöhnungskirche in Buschhoven was the target of vandalism twice in the same week, with its hymnals and booklets scattered, seat cushions thrown on the floor, candles pushed off the altar, and a small fire lit on a doormat. These incidents coincided with fires having been set at the nearby St. Katharina Kirche.
On morning of November 14th, the hermitage of the Holy Sepulcher in Tauste (Zaragoza) was discovered vandalized and the life-sized statue of the Nazarene Christ burnt. The custodian of the hermitage, Juan Francés, found the remains of a fire when he opened the hermitage and found "everything lying on the ground and on fire.” The city council of Tauste condemned the attack on the hermitage “It was an attack on a religious and cultural symbol of our people. It is not a simple act of vandalism.”
A Catholic Liberal Democrat who was the prospective candidate for Stoke-on-Trent South in the upcoming election was abruptly deselected on the basis that his "values" were not in line with the party. Thirty-six hours after Robert Flello was chosen as the Lib Dem candidate, the party announced in a press release that his candidacy had been revoked. The former Labour MP's views on abortion and marriage were not a secret, as he had been a member of parliament for 12 years.
The City Council of Segovia has condemned the graffiti on the ruins of the old temple of San Agustin, from the sixteenth century. The group Yesca Segovia, which with several photographs and a video on their Facebook and Twitter profiles claims the attack.
In the Cathedral of Saint-Luperc in the community of Eauze, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima was intentionally set on fire on November 12th. The mayor suspects the crime was committed by satanists. The statue had been vandalized and stolen before. The police was informed.
The exterior wall of the Madrid parish of Santa Catalina de Alejandría was painted with images and symbols including "Death", an inverted cross, and "666."
The church of Saint-Etienne in Tonnay-Charente was desecrated on November 11th. According to the Bishopric of La Rochelle, the cross of Christ was overturned, the tabernacle was broken, the hosts were scattered on the ground, the lunula containing a host for worship was stolen. The Bishop denounced "the deliberate desire to undermine the integrity of the consecrated hosts."
Intruders broke into the Star of the Sea Carmelite Nuns monastery in Malahide in the early afternoon of November 11th and verbally abused the elderly resident sisters, sprayed and smeared the walls of convent's chapel with graffiti.
11-12 November 2019. Church Warden left "in tears" after rocks damaged historic details of multiple windows at St Thomas' Church, Worcester.