France: A Church in Paris Covered with Insulting Graffiti
"The only Church that enlightens is a church on fire".
In spite of a number of complaints, the parish church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Belleville, situated in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, is regularly the target of insulting graffiti. On January 29, the following three inscriptions could be read on its walls: “The only Church that enlightens is a church on fire,” “All powers are assassins! No God, no master,” and “Pastor, dirty traitor, eat your cassock and your morality.”
When questioned by the newspaper La Croix’s website on January 30, 2014, the pastor, Fr. Stéphane Esclef declared to be surprised that such things could still happen: “I have been at the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Belleville for a year and a half,” he said. “We have undergone this sort of insults almost ten times already and it is only getting worse.” According to this same article, the parishioners have been insulted many times.
The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, condemned these acts in a press release published the day of the crime. An investigation has been opened and the graffiti has been erased by the municipal services.
Early in December 2013, two vicars of the parish were molested by five teenagers when they asked them to stop emptying garbage bins onto the parish courtyard.
(sources: apic/LaCroix – DICI no.290 Feb. 14, 2014)
