Vandalism hits Mulhouse and Lille Catholic churches in France

On a Sunday afternoon in early July, an unidentified man entered the Saint‑Étienne church in Mulhouse, seized the altar cross, threw it to the floor, broke a vase and used the cross as a crowbar to damage three nineteenth‑century confessionals. The incident, captured by surveillance cameras, led the parish priest to file a police complaint; the suspect, a 37‑year‑old who was later interned in a psychiatric facility, is being investigated by the departmental security unit.

Within 48 hours the Saint‑Pierre‑Saint‑Paul church in Lille was also broken into. Police say the intruder stole a tabernacle, a chalice and a ciborium, and vandalised liturgical objects, prompting the diocese to label the act as anti‑religious. The attacks occur amid a reported rise in anti‑Christian offences in France – 843 incidents recorded in 2025, a 9 % increase over the previous year and accounting for 34 % of all anti‑religious crimes.

The French interior ministry has responded with national hearings on anti‑religious acts and a decade‑long programme that has invested roughly €48 million to secure places of worship, including volunteer guard schemes in vulnerable neighbourhoods.