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Watchdog Finds Anti-Christian Violence Intensifying in Europe With Record Church Arsons in Germany

The annual OIDAC report highlights undercounted incidents and urges the EU to name a coordinator to strengthen tracking and prevention.

Overview

  • OIDAC Europe tallied 2,211 anti-Christian offences in 2024, a slight year-over-year decline, while noting a shift toward more destructive and violent acts.
  • Physical attacks rose to 274 from 232 in 2023 and arson attacks nearly doubled to 94, despite 2024 personal-attack data being unavailable from France and the UK.
  • Germany recorded a high of 33 church arsons and a 22% rise in police-recorded anti-Christian hate crimes to 337, following a sharp increase the previous year.
  • France registered the most cases overall with 770 police reports plus 139 from civil society, and early 2025 data there is running about 13% higher than last year.
  • OIDAC cites significant underreporting, including a survey showing fewer than 20% of roughly 1,000 Polish priests who faced aggression contacted police, and it presented its findings to the European Parliament.