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.