War on France’s Christian Heritage: Churches in Flames, Faith Forgotten

On the night of Sunday, September 1, to Monday, September 2, 2024, a fire broke out in the sacristy of the Immaculate Conception Church in Saint-Omer, located in northern France. The fire quickly spread to the roof, and by 5 a.m., the bell tower collapsed due to the intensity of the flames. A total of 57 local residents were evacuated, and approximately 100 firefighters from across the region were mobilized to fight the blaze. By midday, the church—once known as the “Cathedral of the Suburbs”—stood surrounded by fire engines, its bell tower reduced to a blackened metal frame. “The vault collapsed so that we can see the sky directly,” said the parish priest. The church had been completely restored between 2015 and 2018, making this destruction even more tragic.

A fire has destroyed the Immaculate Conception church, in Saint-Omer, France, inaugurated in 1859.

We all know the reason why Christian churches keep burning down.

What is going to be done about it?

Shame on European governments for enabling the persecution of Christians. pic.twitter.com/D6DQe5hhds

— Disciples Of Christ (@ChristSavesUK) September 2, 2024

Later that day, at 7 p.m., a 39-year-old man, already known to the police for similar arson-related acts, was arrested in connection with the fire.

However, this criminal act is far from isolated. It fits within a broader pattern of church desecrations in France—acts that include arson, vandalism of religious symbols and sacred objects, destruction of liturgical furniture, organ damage, theft of church offerings and religious items, blasphemous messages, Satanic graffiti on church walls, urination in holy water fonts, statues of saints smashed, stained glass windows shattered, crosses overturned and defiled with Nazi symbols, and even altars and tombs ransacked in cemeteries.

A 2021 parliamentary report on anti-religious acts recorded 857 anti-Christian incidents in France, 752 of which targeted places of worship and Christian cemeteries. The fire at Saint-Omer marks the 40th such disaster since January 2023. Yet this alarming trend has been met with widespread indifference and silence from political leaders and the media.

To highlight how long-standing and widespread this problem is, we can look at several disturbing examples from recent history:

• December 8, 2012: Vandalism was reported at the chapel of the Toulon naval base, where four major symbols of the Catholic faith were attacked. The Blessed Sacrament was desecrated, the holy species were thrown on the ground, the baptistery was completely broken, and the ambo was toppled and trampled. Despite the severity of this desecration, no action was taken by then-President François Hollande, Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls, or other top officials.
• January 16, 2014: In Lillebonne, Seine-Maritime, locals discovered Satanic inscriptions on the doors of the local church, including messages such as “Satan is in hell” and “Adam and Eve the shame of France.”
• November 13-14, 2014: The church of Saint-Étienne-du-Bois in Ain was vandalized. The tabernacle was forced open, consecrated hosts were stolen, a plaster statue of the Virgin Mary was thrown to the ground, and a cross was torn down and defiled.
• February 18-19, 2019: A Catholic school gate in Sète was tagged with the message, “The only church that illuminates is the one that burns.” Shockingly, no investigation was ever conducted to find the perpetrators of this hate crime.
• April 15-16, 2019: The fire that ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris may have been officially ruled an accident, but many have questioned the official explanation of a cigarette butt or short circuit causing the inferno. Given the age and durability of the beams in Notre Dame, it is difficult to believe that such an accidental spark could have caused the destruction. Some have even speculated that the fire was deliberately set and prepared during prior restoration work.

These criminal acts are part of a larger campaign to systematically destroy Christianity in France. This campaign is not a recent development but has been growing steadily over the years. In 2008, there were 275 Christian places of worship vandalized, and by 2009, this number had grown to 389. By 2017, the number of recorded anti-Christian acts had reached 1,038; in 2018, it rose again to 1,063. Yet the government continues to downplay the crisis, with the Minister of the Interior remarking that the number of incidents in 2018 was “stable” compared to 2017 as if that somehow mitigates the severity of the situation.

The daily desecration of Christian sites in France reflects not just an increasing hostility toward Christianity but also a deliberate trivialization of such acts by politicians and the media. These attacks, which continue unchecked, suggest that the destruction of religious buildings may soon extend to physical violence against Christians themselves. Despite the growing frequency of these attacks, the French public remains largely uninformed, as both the media and the government work together to keep this issue out of the headlines.

This rampant Christianophobia is perpetuated by a systematic media blackout. The media minimizes or ignores the gravity of these attacks, leaving the public unaware of the full extent of the anti-Christian acts taking place across the country. This deliberate silence allows hatred and indifference to flourish.

Christianophobia also manifests itself in the brutal murder of priests around the world. According to the association Aide à l’Église en Détresse, 80% of priests who are assassinated for their faith are tortured beforehand. From January to April 2019, a priest was killed every nine days, solely because of his faith and priesthood. The media rarely reports on these killings, instead focusing on other issues that align with their political agenda.

The destruction of Christian sites is part of a broader ideological battle. Christianity remains the last obstacle to the globalist, messianic agenda that seeks to dismantle traditional Western values and institutions. Political, academic, and media elites actively encourage and support this effort, either through direct attacks or by remaining silent and allowing the desecration to continue unchecked.

In a particularly egregious example of this double standard, the French authorities went to great lengths to protect a synagogue in Rouen from an attempted arson on May 17, 2024. An illegal immigrant armed with a knife and an iron bar was shot and killed by police as he attempted to set fire to the synagogue. Yet when churches are attacked, the response is tepid at best. Graffiti on a synagogue or mosque sparks widespread outrage and mobilization, but when a Catholic church is set on fire, politicians and the media remain silent.

According to a Senate report on religious heritage in France, many of the country’s 100,000 places of worship are now at risk due to neglect, insufficient maintenance, and budgetary constraints. Of these, 45,000—mostly churches—are owned by municipalities, many of which lack the resources to properly care for them. As a result, thousands of churches, particularly in rural areas, are threatened with abandonment, sale, or outright demolition.

The loss of these churches would be a blow to France’s religious heritage and cultural and architectural history. Without immediate intervention, many of these buildings will disappear, forgotten by a population that no longer values or understands the importance of its Christian roots. Jean-Frédéric Poisson, a French politician, warned that our era is experiencing “an erosion of religious understanding accompanied by a deep cultural deficiency,” a result of which is the widespread destruction of Christian heritage.

This war on Christianity has been ongoing since the 1980s, with hostility toward the faith growing steadily. While all other forms of discrimination are condemned and prosecuted, hatred of Christianity is tolerated and even encouraged. For example, in October 2004, Rocco Buttiglione, a European Commissioner, was dismissed after he declared that homosexuality was a sin. This unleashed a torrent of hatred against him, but such outcries are never heard when Christians or their beliefs are attacked.

In a society that now glorifies secularism, globalism, and ideological conformity, Christianity is seen as a threat that must be eliminated. The destruction of churches, the desecration of Christian symbols, and the media’s silent complicity are all part of a more extensive campaign to undermine the very foundations of Western civilization.

Without a strong response to these attacks, France’s rich Christian heritage will continue to erode, leaving behind a country that no longer remembers its own identity.

Source: Riposte Laique