His warning followed on an April 15 fire (“deemed accidental”) which destroyed the 16th-century Church of Saint-Pierre in Romilly-la-Puthenaye, Normandy, northern France, exactly two years after the fire that ruined much of Paris’ famous Notre Dame Cathedral.
Most of the monuments being destroyed are Catholic. There are around 45,000 Catholic “places of worship” in France, where Catholicism still represents “a large majority.” Lamaze explained his concern in an interview with Catholic News Agency:
“Lamaze told CNA in an interview that in addition to one religious building disappearing every two weeks — by demolition, transformation, destruction by fire, or collapse — two-thirds of fires in religious buildings are due to arson. .
‘Although Catholic monuments are still ahead, one mosque is erected every 15 days in France, while one Christian building is destroyed at the same pace,’ Lamaze said. ‘It creates a tipping point on the territory that should be taken into account.’
Lamaze believes that on average more than two Christian monuments are targeted every day. Two-thirds of these incidents concern theft, while the remaining third involve desecration.”
Recent figures from the French central criminal intelligence unit states the number of attacks on Catholic “places of worship” in 2018 alone was 877. (...)
