Incidents of vandalism and arson of Christian churches have spiked in recent weeks in Germany and France, a Vienna-based watchdog group reports.
ROME — the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe in a report Monday.
Following the attacks, the Parisian judicial police opened an investigation into “religiously motivated voluntary damage by means of incendiary devices.” The week prior to these incidents, the Saint-Louis Roi church in Champagne-au-Mont-d’Or was the victim of very significantas a vandal destroyed a crucifix, stations of the cross and a painting in the choir, damaged the church’s nativity scene, broke two stained glass windows, and tossed to the ground candles, books, and sacred vessels.
The police have apprehended the 39-year-old alleged perpetrator of the crime, who reportedly smashed open the back door of the church with stones, demolished religious symbols, and set fire to the 17th-century high altar, which was completely destroyed. Wall and ceiling paintings, restored only last year, also were destroyed by the flames.
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