A statue of the Virgin Mary was set on fire in a French church, sparking anger. The purportedly deliberate act was discovered on Tuesday in the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Help in Guingamp, Brittany.
The incident happened on Monday evening and, while arson is suspected, the investigation is still ongoing. A member of the association of friends of the Basilica’s organ said on Facebook: “Yesterday evening, during the 6pm mass, the celebration of the Nativity of Mary, our basilica once again suffered an act of vandalism, the burning of the Virgin and Child, our Patron Saint, Our Lady of Bonsecours.”
“An act of course deliberate, since there is no source of heat near the statue. For what purpose? I am disgusted and very angry.”
Mona Brax, president of the Friends of Guingamp Heritage, told Actu.fr:”Beyond a legitimate emotion and an equally legitimate anger, to put it bluntly, it is difficult not to see here either primary anti-Christianity, or Christianophobia, or even a sign that faith is definitely no longer in vogue; or worse still, a confirmation of the disappearance of respect for heritage and works of art of a religious nature.”
It comes after Notre Dame des Champs, a prominent church in the Montparnasse neighbourhood of Paris, was temporarily closed after two fires broke out there in as many days on July 23 and 24.
Former president of the far-right National Rally party Marine Le Pen said on X: “Barely a month after the criminal fire that targeted Notre-Dame-des-Champs church in Paris, a new act of vandalism defiles a church in Brittany.
“Attacks against places of worship, whatever they may be, are unacceptable, just as unacceptable as the powerlessness of public authorities to protect them and the selective outrage of certain left-wing and far-left political figures, who remain silent when it comes to denouncing this exponential violence targeting Catholics.”