France faces a 13% surge in anti-Christian attacks in 2025, with 322 incidents. Senators demand action to protect Christians and preserve national cohesion.
Newsroom (03/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) A troubling wave of hostility against Christians is sweeping France, with new data revealing a 13 percent spike in attacks on churches, religious symbols, and believers in the first five months of 2025. Authorities recorded 322 anti-Christian incidents during this period, compared to the same timeframe last year, signaling a crisis that lawmakers and advocates say can no longer be ignored.
In a powerful public appeal, 86 senators—nearly a quarter of France’s upper chamber—have called on the government to take decisive action to protect Christians with the same vigor afforded to other religious communities. The statement, spearheaded by Senator Sylviane Noël and published on the Boulevard Voltaire platform, was endorsed by lawmakers across the political spectrum. It poses a pointed question: “Is Notre Dame still burning?”—invoking the 2019 cathedral fire as a metaphor for what the senators describe as systemic neglect of France’s Christian heritage.
The numbers paint a stark picture. Thefts of sacred objects surged to 820 cases in 2024, up from 633 in 2022, according to official figures. Vandalism, arson, desecrations, and even physical assaults are increasingly common. “Not a week goes by without regional press or social media reporting new attacks,” the senators noted, citing incidents ranging from profaned churches to violence against the faithful.
Recent events underscore the crisis’s severity. In the Landes region, at least 27 churches were vandalized in a matter of weeks. In Nice, a roadside cross on the Boulevard de la Madeleine was defaced. Most harrowingly, in Lyon, 45-year-old Ashur Sarnaya, an Assyrian-Chaldean Christian who fled persecution in Iraq, was fatally stabbed outside his home on September 10 while livestreaming on social media.
The senators are pushing for a national registry to track anti-Christian acts and a robust support system for victims, emphasizing the need for accessibility, transparency, and efficiency. Beyond statistics, they frame the issue as a test of France’s core values. “What is at stake is our national cohesion, our fidelity to the history of France and its Christian roots, and our true adherence to the principle of laïcité,” the appeal states, defining the concept not as the erasure of religion but as a guarantee of dignity and security for all faiths.
Critics have pointed to a troubling disparity in media coverage, noting that attacks on other religious groups often garner swift attention, while those targeting Christians are frequently downplayed as isolated incidents. This perceived silence has amplified concerns among lawmakers and community leaders, who argue that the rising hostility threatens both social harmony and France’s commitment to equal protection under the law.
As the government faces mounting pressure to respond, the senators’ appeal serves as a clarion call: addressing this crisis is not just about protecting a single community but preserving the principles that define the French Republic.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Zenit News
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