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Man targets ‘Christian religious symbols’ in attack on French Catholic church, priest says - Stone - 07-08-2026
Man targets ‘Christian religious symbols’ in attack on French Catholic church, priest says
Three confessionals dating from the early 19th century were ripped open with an altar cross during a brief but violent daylight attack on a French Catholic church.
![[Image: Untitled-11.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Untitled-11.png)
Church of Saint-Étienne, Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France
Wikimedia Commons
Three confessionals dating from the early 19th century were ripped open with an altar cross during a brief but violent daylight attack on a French Catholic church.
Church of Saint-Étienne, Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France
Wikimedia Commons
Jul 7, 2026
MULHOUSE, France (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic church in Mulhouse, France, was vandalized after a man damaged an altar cross and three confessionals before leaving the building.
On July 5, according to reports from Le Figaro and Tribune Chrétienne, a man entered Saint-Étienne Catholic Church in Mulhouse, in France’s Haut-Rhin department, and vandalized several liturgical furnishings. Notably, no property was stolen.
The church, which is open to the public each day, was empty at the time. The episode lasted about five minutes and was recorded by the church’s video surveillance system. The footage reportedly shows the suspect entering the sanctuary “in shorts, bare‑chested and barefoot,” throwing the altar cross to the floor.
According to Le Figaro, “the same individual then grabbed a vase and spilled its contents – water and flowers – onto the altar. He continued his rampage with his face fully visible, ripping open the doors of three confessionals using the cross as a crowbar.” Some of those confessionals date from the early 19th century. Thanks to the surveillance cameras, it was also possible to see that “the perpetrator fled with a second individual” who was waiting outside.
“He persisted and targeted Christian religious symbols,” said Father Pascal Boulic, parish priest of Saint-Étienne. Boulic also said that, during the five years since he arrived in Mulhouse, the p
Following the report filed by the priest on July 6, a 37‑year‑old man was arrested for vandalism. However, the president of the Grand Est region, Franck Leroy, has already cautioned in a statement that it will first be necessary to clarify “his degree of discernment at the time of the events.” The vandal’s identity has not been disclosed.
In recent months, France has witnessed a dramatic collapse of the sense of the sacred, visible both in the growing number of violent profanations against Catholic churches and in the permissive attitude of much of the clergy. In Paris last month, churches were used as venues for performances with occult or blasphemous symbolism, approved by ecclesiastical authorities, during the city’s “Nuit Blanche” exhibition.