In France, more than 1,000 anti-Christian facts in 2019

Last updated: Thu 31 Mar 2022 PM

The French Ministry of the Interior published on Sunday 26 January the report of racist and anti-religious acts for the year 2019 in France. It is increasing significantly.

In 2019, anti-religious acts have increased significantly. 1052 anti-Christian acts have been recorded, a stable figure compared to 2018. 687 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded, an increase of 27% compared to 2018. 154 anti-Muslim incidents were recorded, an increase of 35% compared to the previous year. The facts include actions and threats, says the French Ministry of the Interior.

Facts of an anti-Semitic nature involve attacks on people, while anti-Christian and anti-Muslim facts involve attacks on religious property.

In addition, in 2019, 1,142 acts of a racist and xenophobic nature were recorded, compared with 496 in 2018, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Concerning anti-Christian acts, which number 1052 in 2019 and 1063 in 2018, the figures support a wave of desecration that continues to grow in Europe. In one week in 2019, five Catholic places of worship had been the target of acts of vandalism and desecration in France. Bishop Robert Wattebled, Bishop of Nîmes since 2001, made the bitter observation for Vatican Radio: "We are dealing with deliberate acts of desecration," he said, "facts of great gravity" which reveal that "we have passed a stage, a degree".

According to 2017 figures from the Ministry of the Interior, the Catholic Church and the Christian churches hold the record for attacks on places of worship: 878 of the 978 acts recorded, an average of two per day. The debate brought to the table the delicate question of the openness of churches and their security, without neglecting the call of Pope Francis: "The Church is called to be always the open house of the Father. One of the concrete signs of this openness is to have churches with open doors everywhere. So that, if someone wants to follow a motion of the Spirit and come closer to seek God, he does not encounter the coldness of a closed door" (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium).

Source: Vatican News