An act of desecration happened in Jerzmanowice on 26 November. Someone turned the cross on the local Calvary upside down and hung an animal skull on it. This is the second time this year that an unknown perpetrator has destroyed, devastated and profaned this Way of the Cross.
Fr Petro Krenitsky, parish priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Assumption of Saint Anna Church in Melitopol, was detained by Rusian forces on 25 November and then released on the same day. He was later forced to leave to Ukrainian-held territory. A few days later, the remaining Greek-Catholic priest in the city, Fr Oleksandr Bogomaz, was also expelled. There are no Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priests remaining in Melitopol.
In November 2022, policemen confronted a woman praying in a public space, on the edge of a "buffer zone" (a 150m neutral zone surrounding abortion clinics in British law). The case raises polemics about "buffer zones" in general.
Unknown perpetrators traced a big blasphemous writing on a votive crucifix at via Chiesa Rossa in Milan. "Now there is no limit to the vandalistic drift, we are seriously concerned. We ask for a stance from the institutions," said vice-president of the coordination of Milan committees, Fabiola Minoletti, quoted by Milano Today.
On 22. November night, the church of St. Joseph was broken into and desecrated in Cannes. Furniture and drawers were emptied out, donations were stolen, and gasoline was poured all over the walls and floors. The faithful are shocked at the sight of the incident. A mass of reparation is planned for next Friday in the presence of Mgr Nault.
Neighbors of Almería complain that every morning, the area around the church of San Roque, a parish in Almería, is full of garbage and the remains of the previous night's 'botellón' (parties). Recently, the remains of a bonfire appeared on one of the walls of the parish church of San Roque after a barbecue was made at the place, damaging the facade of the church. This form of damage shows a lack of respect for religious groups.
As reported by the newspaper Libertà Sicilia, on November 8, investigators from Sicily received the report of a crime concerning the theft of two antique bells dating back to the early 1900s, stolen from a church. The investigation allowed the tracing of the first perpetrator. As a result of the in-depth investigations, the agents were later able to identify two other individuals, responsible for the laundering of brass scrap, (with a total weight of 55 kilograms) of a bell stolen from another church in the Diocese of Netina.
Fr. Nicolas, the rector of the churches of Santa Maria dell'Olmo and San Rocco in Archi, reported that all the guarded votive gold dedicated to Saint Roch had been stolen. This has been reported on the 20th of November. The police have been notified and are conducting investigations.
A suspect has been caught on CCTV cameras after a wooden chapel in the Prienai district was set on fire on the 20th November. The chapel was in the churchyard of the Skriaudžiai church. Firefighters could not save the wooden building. Fr. Antanas Mickevičius, parish priest of St. Laurynas parish in Skriaudžiai, suspected that the fire was caused by arson: "There was no electricity, fireplace or candles [in the chapel], nothing like that. It could only be arson" quoted Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT). After investigating, the firefighters believed that the building may have been set on fire after being doused with a flammable liquid.
At the end of October, a draft bill was approved by the Council of Ministers to ban so-called "conversion practices" against LGBTQ+ people. The bill was carried out by the Minister of Equality Opportunity Secretary, Sarah Schlitz. The adoption of this specific bill will allow the ban to take effect immediately. While the protection of victims from abuse and manipulative practices is extremely important, the bill could threaten religious freedom, as the Minister affirms she wants to ban "ALL forms of conversion therapies". Given that there is not a clear definition of what counts as "conversion practice", the bill could ban simple prayers and private conversations among Christians.
A chasuble from the 19th century was stolen on Monday 18. from the high altar of the Citykirche in Aachen, where it was exposed in an ongoing art installation. For the parish of St. Francis of Aachen (where the chasuble originally belongs) this theft is a serious loss, emphasized Father Timotheus Eller to Aachener Zeitung.
On 17 November a man tried to set fire to the wooden fence of an Orthodox church on Kavkazskiy Bul'var in Moscow. He was arrested nearby by law enforcement officials. He claims that he went for a walk with a can of petrol, then emptied it on the fence for no reason and set it on fire. Pending his trial for "vandalism", he is under house arrest and released under judicial supervision.
Police officers in Poland have detained a married couple who robbed church donation boxes. The couple, from Białystok, stole from more than 20 churches. Among other things, several hundred zlotys and the keys to one of the churches were found in their car.
The Donetsk Exarchate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church announced that on 16 November, two priests of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin of Berdyansk, currently under Russian control, were "illegally arrested" by the Rosgvardiya (Russia's National Guard).
On the 16th of November, 2022, two Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priests, Ivan Levytsky and Bohdan Heletta were taken prisoner by Russian troops in Berdjansk, south-east Ukraine, currently under Russian occupation. Since then, nothing has been heard of them. Maksym Rjabucha, auxiliary bishop: "Despite the prayers, protests and efforts of the Catholic Church, there is still no news about them."
On 16. November, the church in the small town of Champagnat was severely damaged by fire. 39 firemen were mobilised to secure the building and extinguish the fire, which seems to have been started on a pile of books that were placed beside a wooden confessional. The alert was raised by people attending a funeral, who saw thick smoke coming out of the church. A local volunteer fireman began containing the fire until the fire brigade arrived. They were able to preserve a painting of Christ, but another painting was destroyed, along with the books, a statue and the confessional.
Plastic objects inside the church have been set on fire and were burned on a candle holder on the 15th of November. The incident was discovered by a parishioner, who had opened the church and left to return a couple of hours later. When she came back, the premises smelled like burning, so she alerted the parish priest. They also notified the police, who realized that plastic objects had been set on fire intentionally by unknown perpetrators.
In November 2022, there was an attack on a Catholic church in Augsburg, in the Oberhausen discritc. Unknown perpetrators threw eggs at the church of St. Peter and Paul and tagged it with graffiti. The graffiti said "F*CK JESUS", it also had a Satanic star and the number "666", which refers to the devil.
The former football player Vasilios Tsiartas was sentenced this November to 10 months in prison for a comment made on Facebook in 2017 where he stated that “God created Adam and Eve” in response to a bill for the redefinition of gender identity. On his Twitter account, he has stated that he will appeal the sentence.
Unknown persons set a fire at the St. Bonifatius church on the 13th of November in Freckenhorst. According to police, the fire did not spread much but it damaged part of the stone floor. The perpetrators also smeared a wall in the church with soot. The police are now looking for information to identify the vandals.