The number of hate crimes against Christians in Europe rose sharply in 2020, according to newly published data from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Almost 1,000 incidents against Christians were documented last year the OSCE reported, including arson attacks on Catholic churches, desecration and robbery of Eucharistic hosts, assaults on priests, and anti-Catholic graffiti on Church property by abortion activists, the Catholic News Agency said.
The 980 hate crimes against Christians in 2020 represented a sharp increase on 595 such incidents in 2019.
Poland, often considered a Catholic country, had the most hate crimes reported against Christians with 241 incidents in 2020. The Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion was believed to be a reason for acts of vandalism against Catholic property.
There were more than 100 acts of graffiti on Catholic property in 2020, including anti-Christian slogans.
The Catholic News Agency said that the number of hate crimes against Christians was likely higher than reflected in the data as only 11 of the 57 OCSE states submitted data on hate crimes against Christians.
Madeleine Enzlberger, head of the Observatory of Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians (OIDACE) in Vienna, Austria, said that in media and political spheres “hatred of Christians is hardly noticed as an increasingly obvious social problem.”
“The OSCE report reflects only part of this trend, which we have been documenting for years, and yet it is a loud wake-up call against indifference and fashionable Christian-bashing,” she told the CNA.
Arson attacks on Catholic churches were reported in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. A Catholic cathedral in France was also vandalized with excrement smeared by perpetrators, who then attempted to set the church on fire in February 2020.
Ten masked individuals targeted another Catholic church in France in an arson attack in October 2020 by pushing a car up to the church and then setting it on fire causing significant damage.