Last week a group of French Catholics taking part in an annual Marian procession in the suburbs of Paris were verbally attacked and threatened by demonstrators.
About 30 parishioners and clergy from Nanterre, France who were making an annual torchlight procession on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Wednesday, December 8, were confronted by a group of ten people, reported Le Figaro.
In what was described as a “heated altercation” the demonstrators insulted and threatened the group, calling them “infidels.” Le Figaro reported that Jean-Marc Sertillange, a deacon of the the parish, published an account of the attack:
Condemnation from French government
On Saturday, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin condemned the attacks on Twitter, calling them a violation of religious freedom.
“Inadmissible acts,” he Tweeted, “The freedom of worship must be able to be exercised in all serenity in our country. Support for Catholics in France.”
The diocese describes violent threats
The confrontation took place outside the church of Saint-Joseph-des-Fontenelles in the diocese of Nanterre.
The diocese issued a statement on December 11, which was published by the National Catholic Register:
Police respond to attacks
On Saturday the Haut-de-Sein Police department posted on Twitter that they “strongly condemn the insults, threats and intimidations uttered during the procession and expresses its solidarity with the Catholics of Nanterre.Police forces mobilized to arrest and bring to justice the perpetrators of these intolerable acts.”
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in acts of vandalism against churches in France, as reported at Aleteia. A recent study by the Observatory on Intolerance Against Christians in Europe named France as one of five European countries that has seen a sharp uptick in anti-Christian discrimination and violence.
