France: Five statues vandalized in the Southeast
Five statues—three of the Blessed Virgin and two of Christ crucified—were vandalized in Dax in November, the daily newspaper La Croix reported in its edition dated November 21, 2011. The first act of defacement occurred on November 10: a statue of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous, in the church in Pontonx, was daubed with red paint. In Saugnac-et-Cambran, the face of an image of the Blessed Virgin located at a crossroads was covered in the same way. In Buglose, the birthplace of St. Vincent de Paul, a sort of tar was poured on the Virgin’s face.
On November 14 the columns of a kiosk sheltering some statues were covered with red graffiti and the arms of Christ were cut off. The last act defilement was committed on November 20 in Rion-des-Landes. A large statue of Christ crucified set behind the main altar of the church was smeared with red paint from head to foot. The two arms of the statue were sawed through but did not fall.
These are extremely serious acts of the sort that attack public order and secularism [laïcité],” explained the public prosecutor of Dax, Frédérique Loubet Porterie, who recalled that the defacement of a cultural artifact on display in a place of worship is punishable by law with 7 years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Euros. “All this is extremely devastating, shocking, troubling,” said Fr. Bernard Hayet, vicar-general of the Diocese of Dax, deploring what he called “gratuitous vandalism. It is always painful for a priest to see that the people’s faith is ill-treated. I will not even mention the word ‘profanation’. In order to profane something one has to have a grudge against someone, and to date I have received no anti-Catholic communiqué claiming responsibility.” Do we have to wait for an official “communiqué claiming responsibility” to say that we are shocked by such openly anti-Catholic profanations?
(Sources : Apic/La Croix – DICI no.246 dated December 9, 2011)
On the same topic :
France: 95% of vandalized places of worship or cemeteries are Christian
France: Churches continue to be desecrated
China: Profanation of a Catholic Cemetery in Hong Kong
