ROME — The Observatory on Discrimination and Intolerance Against Christians in Europe (OIDACE) denounced Wednesday a recent spate of anti-Christian vandalism in Austria and mainstream media’s failure to report on it.
“Acts of vandalism against Churches are currently very high in countries like Germany, France, and Italy,” OIDACE executive director Madeleine Enzlberger said in an email, with many of the cases showing “a clear anti-Christian bias.”
“Sadly, the reporting of these cases remains very scarce, if not almost completely ignored by the media,” Enzlberger noted.
The first case concerned a series of red-spray-painted Satanic graffiti found on the walls and altar of St. Vincent church in Graz on April 28, which included the word Satan, upside-down crosses, and the number 666. The vandals also painted an angel’s face red and burned a bible.
“I have never experienced anything like this. Even a Bible was set on fire, an angel was made the devil. Whoever does such a thing is perverted!” said the parish priest, Father Wolfgang Pucher. “It’s just unbelievable.”
On May 6, vandals inflicted significant property damage to the Kalwang parish church in Mautern, spraying the outer walls with Nazi symbols as well as graffiti reading “Sh*t Jesus.”
Also on May 6, the evangelical church in Vöcklabruck, Austria, was attacked and robbed. The unidentified assailants kicked over three lights on the pathway outside the church and strewed notices, brochures, leaflets, and prayer books around the inside of the church.
The perpetrators also smashed a microphone and broke open the offering box, taking the money that was inside.
On May 18, a thief broke into a Catholic church in the Saggen district of Innsbruck, stealing a chalice and a coffer filled with Eucharistic hosts.
On May 16 and again on May 21, vandals spray-painted the Karlskirche in Vienna with graffiti, marking the third and fourth times of such profanation of the church in 2022 alone. OIDACE noted that this is the worst year to date with vandalism against the church, with some sort of damage reported almost every day.
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