A surge in attacks targeting churches and clergy across France in recent weeks has raised serious concerns about “Christianophobia.”
An intelligence report indicated that 31% of religiously motivated offenses in France in 2024 were classified as anti-Christian, while antisemitic acts accounted for 62% and anti-Muslim incidents made up 7%.
The number of arson attacks on Christian places of worship increased from 38 in 2023 to 50 in 2024, marking a 30% rise. Although some incidents occurred in New Caledonia, a French overseas territory that experienced unrest earlier in the year, the majority took place on mainland France.
One of the recent incidents involved Father Laurent Milan, who was confronted by about 10 young men after celebrating evening mass at the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Repos church in Montfavet, near Avignon, on May 10. According to La Provence, the youths, some hooded initially claimed they wanted to visit or convert, but once inside, they shouted insults at Christianity and yelled “Allahu Akbar,” warning Milan they would return to burn down the church.
In Saint-Aygulf, southern France, a church was broken into on the night of May 4–5, and the tabernacle was ripped open with the Eucharist stolen, reports The Catholic Herald.
Other recent attacks include vandalism at the parish hall of Saint-Laurent in Maurepas and a similar incident at the church of Saint Jean Marie Vianney in Rennes. In Normandy, another parish hall was targeted, and in Paris, a man armed with a knife entered Saint-Ambroise church just before mass; police responded quickly, and no injuries occurred.
In a separate incident in March, a 96-year-old priest in Cambrai was kidnapped, beaten, tied to a chair, and robbed by two burglars, whose identities remain unknown. Stolen items included checkbooks, a chalice, and a painting.
Two priests were also attacked on Good Friday, April 18. In Normandy’s Lisieux, a man returned twice in one day to threaten and grab a priest by the collar, and in Provence’s Tarascon, another priest was slapped for asking a man to behave respectfully inside the church.
In March 2024, vandals in Clermont d'Excideuil defaced 58 graves, a church door, and a World War I memorial overnight, spray-painting slogans like “Submit yourselves to Allah,” “Happy Ramadan non-Muslims,” and “France is already Allah’s” in French and Arabic.
These incidents received limited attention in the mainstream media, despite being reported mainly in conservative outlets, as noted by the European Conservative.
Alongside the rise in violence, concerns over immigration have intensified, as most recent arrivals in France come from North and Sub-Saharan Africa, and both legal and illegal immigration have reached record highs under President Macron.
Last November, the watchdog group OIDAC Europe warned that anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe reached 2,444 incidents in 2023, with around 1,000 occurring in France. Most of these attacks—about 90%—targeted churches and cemeteries. French officials also documented 84 personal attacks on individuals in 2023.
