Europe: assaults on Catholic churches and church sites have frequented
There have been frequented assaults on Catholic churches of France and Belgium lately. The Church Internet sites have also become a target object. This is reported by Catholic News Agency.
In French Romanesque city Martigues evil-doers burnt an altar of Saint Mary Magdalene church. “The altar is made of marble so the fire did not spread onto the whole church, the local priest told. – If it were wooden, the implications would be disastrous.” The priest also reported, on May 15 the unknown persons desecrated a repository of the holy gifts in the church in Provence. Father Delabre was attacked right in the church door: an unknown intruder, according to the priest, “was trying to steal something” in the church.
Martigues’s mayor Gaby Charroux said bitterly that “sacrilege acts in France are getting even more frequented”, and promised that the police would do to the best of their abilities to curb the looters. During April over one hundred church sites in France were attacked by allegedly Tunisian cyber jihadists who call themselves “Falaga Team”.
On May 24 in one of the Belgian cities the fire seriously damaged a church of XVI century. The fire burst into a blaze in a sacristy. Hardly had the firemen handled that fire area as the church roof got on fire, too. According to the police, the fire was caused by the act of arson. The guilty are wanted by the law enforcement.
Read also
DESS: The number of communities joining OCU in 2024 is half of last year’s
Over a year, 232 communities of the UOC changed their jurisdiction.
Scale of internal damage to UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia shown online
The video allows viewers to assess the damage endured by the main Orthodox church of the UOC in Zaporizhzhia.
Ex-MP UOC protodeacon Novinsky declared suspicion of high treason
The former MP is accused of "ensuring that a significant part of Ukrainian society, who are believers of the UOC, remain under the direct influence of the leader of the ROC".
St Andrew’s icon survives under the rubble of UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia
The icon was painted by nuns of the St Nicholas Monastery in Patras (Greece) and consecrated on the relics of St Andrew the Apostle.
RF missile strike destroys St Andrew's Cathedral of UOC in Zaporizhzhia
The fragments damaged the roof of the building, dome, ceilings, cut windows and disfigured classrooms.
Media shows conditions in which persecuted communities of Volyn have to pray
After their churches were seized, UOC faithful are compelled to pray in poorly equipped facilities.