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Editor’s note: this article has been updated to include more recent information about the arsonist of the Church of the Immaculate Conception.
CV NEWS FEED // Nine Catholic churches in Europe were set on fire in arson attacks within three weeks, from late August to mid-September, according to an emailed press release from the Observatory of Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe.
Three of the attacks took place in the Netherlands. There were also two in Italy, two in Ireland, one in France, and one in Germany.
The first of the recent attacks occurred in Bad Wörishofen, Germany on August 25, where the arsonists set fire to the church and to the altar cloth. The press release stated that the fire caused “serious damage worth several thousand euros.”
An attack on Holy Name Parish in Greenisland, Northern Ireland occurred on September 1, the day after the parish celebrated its 70th anniversary. The fire destroyed most of the church.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, France was destroyed in an arson attack on September 2. A suspect has been arrested in connection with the fire, as CatholicVote previously reported.
According to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe, authorities have arrested the culprit of the church fire. They stated that he is known for similar activities, and that he has been convicted 26 times, and attempted to set fire to churches 15 times.
The Observatory continues,
During his trial for the arson of the four churches in Pas-de-Calais in January 2022, the man explained that he had acted “because of [his] past”: abandoned by his parents and placed in the care of a foster family, he recounted having been sexually abused by his adoptive father. “Every time I watch TV and all that, the priests are paedophiles. That’s why I attack churches”, he confessed.
The press release lists the most recent attack as occurring on September 15 at St. Anthony the Abbot Church in Wijchen, Netherlands, where statues were destroyed and both personal and devotional objects were set on fire.
Attacks and vandalism against Catholic churches in the United States have increased as well, with 452 attacks occurring since May 2020, and 57 of those attacks occurring this year, according to CatholicVote’s violence tracker.
