than in January<\/a>, which had already marked an unusually high number of incidents.<\/p>\nThe organisation said February\u2019s cases included 17 incidents of vandalism, 11 fire-related events, three desecrations, two incidents involving the theft of holy objects, and one case of violent assault on Christians taking part in a public event.<\/p>\n
France, Italy and Germany recorded the highest numbers of incidents, with seven cases each in France and Italy, and six in Germany.<\/p>\n
Additional incidents were reported in the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Poland and Greece, while further cases were also logged in the UK and Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n
The group said one of the clearest trends in February was the persistence of arson attacks, including\u00a0an incident in Loiret, France, where the altar of a parish church was deliberately set alight.<\/p>\n
In the Dutch town of Ede, three churches were damaged in separate fires in the space of five days, prompting heightened concern over repeated targeting of Christian sites.<\/p>\n
In Italy, incidents included an attempted arson at the historic Church of San Rocco in Felizzano, and an arrest at St Peter\u2019s Basilica in the Vatican after a man allegedly tried to enter carrying flammable materials and ignition devices during a papal Mass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A priest in southern Stockholm, Sweden, reportedly prevented an attempt to set fire to a Catholic church.<\/p>\n
In the UK, OIDAC Europe recorded two suspected arson attacks, including severe damage to a historic former church building in Camelon, Scotland, and to the former King\u2019s Hall Methodist Church in Southall.<\/p>\n
A second pattern was the repeated targeting of on objects with symbolic or liturgical value, like a Virgin Mary statue at Bois-le-Roi cemetery and vandalism of Montpellier Cathedral during a carnival celebration in France.<\/p>\n
In Germany, grave crosses were burned inside a cemetery prayer hall in Amtzell and serious vandalism occurred inside a Catholic church in Steinenbronn.<\/p>\n
St Alphonsus RC Church in Glasgow, UK, was vandalised, while in Spain, incidents included graffiti on the historic Santa Susana Church in Santiago.<\/p>\n
A third pattern was the recurrence of attacks against the same churches or local Christian sites in quick succession, raising fears about the cumulative effect on congregations and neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n
OIDAC Europe documented repeated damage to a church in Hastings, UK, and vandalism of St Olof\u2019s Church in Falk\u00f6ping, Sweden.<\/p>\n
In Spain, there was renewed damage to the entrance and windows of the Immaculate Conception convent in Navarre.<\/p>\n
In Poland, threatening graffiti and satanic symbols were daubed on the wall of a Roman Catholic church in Pozna\u0144, including a warning that the church would be burned.<\/p>\n
In the case of violent assault, two people were taken to hospital after being attacked at a Christian pro-life event in Koblenz, Germany.<\/p>\n
The violence did not stop with the end of February.<\/p>\n
OIDAC Europe said attacks continued during the opening weeks of March, with more arson reported in Austria, Poland, Ireland and in Switzerland, where\u00a0a Bible was set alight on an altar.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in March, a cross was reportedly removed from the front of a Methodist church in Germany and thrown into a rubbish bin.<\/p>\n
In Italy, a paper bomb hit a church in Modesto, while in Tuscania gunshots were directed at both a church and a religious image.<\/p>\n
Alongside the recorded hate crimes, OIDAC Europe said it documented an additional 46 incidents involving theft, property damage or break-ins affecting churches, though these were not included in the anti-Christian hate crime count because a specific bias in the motive could not be clearly established.<\/p>\n
OIDAC Europe said the cases demonstrate continuing risks for Christian places of worship and communities, and\u00a0underline the need for protection of religious sites.<\/p>\n
“While the figures presented reflect only the incidents documented by OIDAC Europe and therefore cannot capture the full scope of anti-Christian hostility, the patterns observed highlight ongoing security concerns affecting Christian places of worship across Europe,” said OIDAC.<\/p>\n
“Ensuring the protection of religious sites and the free and safe exercise of religion remains an important responsibility for public authorities and local communities alike.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock) A Christian watchdog has reported a rise in anti-Christian hate crimes against churches and other Christian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[241418,241419,56261,2000,299,5187,92633,241420,241421],"class_list":["post-844215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-anti-christian-hate-crime","tag-attacks-on-christians","tag-christmas-market","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-hate-crimes","tag-oidac","tag-the-observatory-on-intolerance-and-discrimination-against-christians-in-europe"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116276724202325773","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"church,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/98702sp_385w_217h_360x_242y.jpg\")
\u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n