Medjugorje vandalism is latest in wave of desecrations

An image of the vandalism in Medjugorje.

From Spain to the USA, several churches have been vandalised in the past three months. Although the attacks seem unrelated to each other, they show that religious freedom is not to be taken for granted, even in majority Christian countries.

The popular European shrine of Medjugorje, in Bosnia, was vandalised and desecrated in the early hours of Tuesday, 28 July.

Local authorities were investigating the incident, which involved the desecration of a statue of the Virgin Mary and damage caused by fire.

This case is the latest in a wave of attacks against churches in several countries across Europe and the Americas, involving acts of vandalism, desecration, arson or theft, raising concerns over a growing pattern of attacks against Christian places of worship.

While the circumstances and motivations behind each case vary, all have one element in common: churches and Christian religious symbols were deliberately targeted. The succession of incidents has alarmed local communities and renewed concerns about growing hostility towards places of worship, even in countries where Christians make up the majority of the population.

According to information gathered by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) from local news reports, incidents occurred in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Colombia, Nicaragua, Poland, Mexico, Dominican Republic and the USA.

In Nicaragua, a country where the Church has suffered from severe persecution at the state level in recent years, a church was broken into two times in the Diocese of Estelí, on 13 and 16 June. Thieves took musical instruments and furniture, but also destroyed an image of Jesus in the Franciso de Asis parish. Father Muñoz expressed his regret at what had happened and said that the incident showed a loss of values and of respect for the sacred. The priest added that those responsible for the crime were unaware of the sacredness of the house of God, and noted that they had also stolen a gas cylinder.

Another very disturbing incident took place in southwest France, where individuals broke into a Church in Mugron and stole the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle. The break-in took place between 14 and 17 June and is being investigated by the authorities.

A similar crime occurred between 5 and 6 July in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, in Lille, where liturgical items and the tabernacle with consecrated hosts were stolen. On 5 July a man was arrested for entering the church of St Etienne, in Mulhouse, and vandalising the altar cross, several pews and confessionals. The man was later arrested and considered psychiatrically unfit by the authorities.

These were the latest in a long string of incidents involving churches in France, where arson attacks on Catholic Churches have become relatively frequent. On 12 June, just days before the desecration in Mugron, two churches were partially destroyed in fires, in Brittany and Gers, and a few days later, on 24 June, an altar cloth was set on fire in a church in Val d’Oust. Similar arson attacks were registered as having taken place in Belgium on 8 June, in Italy on 16 June, in Northern Ireland on 28 June, and in Germany on 29 June. Earlier in Germany, on 22 June, a man was arrested for causing severe damage to a church organ and to religious art in a church in Friesoythe.

The Diocese of Saltillo, in Mexico, also saw a case of theft of the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle on 12 June, although in this case it appears that the criminals were after the vessels, rather than the Eucharist itself, as they abandoned the consecrated hosts nearby. The local bishop called for prayer and ordered an act of reparation before the Church could be used again.

More recently, on 12 July, criminals broke into three different churches in the Diocese of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and forced open the tabernacle to steal sacred vessels, leaving the Eucharist spread over the floor and on the altar.

Acts of vandalism also took place in Spain. In Catalonia, a group of youths broke into the Church of Our Lady of Peace, in Òdena, on 19 May, causing serious material damage to the interior, desecrating the altar and a Bible, stealing metal objects, including instruments, and graffitiing the walls. The act angered local residents, who were further distressed when the authorities opted to seal the Church, to avoid more problems, rather than increase security.

On 8 June a young man was arrested after vandalising and desecrating the Church of the Assumption in Łubów, Poland. Apparently drunk, the man urinated on the floor of the church and damaged several religious objects.

A more severe attack took place in Colombia, on Sunday 21 June, where an unknown armed group used drones to fire explosives against a Christian church in the north of the country. A ten-year-old boy was killed in the attack, which also left five people wounded. Northern Colombia is one of the most badly affected by internal violence, but the reason for the attack is not known.