Violent Attacks Against Christians Spike in Europe

Violent attacks or threats against Christians and arson crimes against churches in Europe spiked sharply in 2024, according to a report by the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe).

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The research shows that, while the 2,211 hate crimes targeting Christians recorded across the European continent in 2024 were a drop from the number of incidents in 2023, the nature of the crimes had grown more violent.

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Key findings include:

•   In 2024, a total of 2,211 anti-Christian hate crimes were recorded by governments and civil society organizations across Europe, including 274 personal attacks.

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•   The most affected countries in 2024 were France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. In November, a 76-year-old monk was killed and several others were injured during an attack on a Spanish monastery. In January, one man was shot dead in an ISIS-related attack during Sunday mass at a Catholic church in Istanbul. In September, a historic church in Saint-Omer, France, was almost completely destroyed in an arson attack.

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•   Recent surveys from Poland and Spain indicate significant underreporting of aggression against clergy. In Poland, nearly half of surveyed priests reported experiencing aggression in the past year—yet over 80% did not report the incidents to the police. If extrapolated nationwide, this would suggest that as many as 14,000 priests may have experienced aggression in Poland alone within the last 12 months, underscoring the scale of the issue and the limitations of relying solely on police-reported data.

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•   Between 2024 and 2025, OIDAC Europe identified multiple restrictions on religious freedom affecting Christians across Europe. These included bans on public prayer and religious manifestation, prosecutions for expressing religious beliefs, infringements on religious autonomy and parental rights, and limitations on conscientious objection.

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•   As in previous years, several Christians were criminally charged for displaying Bible verses, offering voluntary conversations, or even silently praying in so-called “buffer zones” around abortion facilities. Others faced prosecution for peacefully expressing their religious beliefs or historic Christian teachings on issues related to sexual ethics.

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Read and download the report here. Also read the news article about the report on The Christian Post website.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Global Persecution of Christians Surges in 2024 ]

OIDAC Europe is a research-based non-governmental organization in Austria. It focuses on systematically monitoring and analyzing restrictions on freedom of religion, discrimination based on religious affiliation or conviction, as well as violent incidents, including hate crimes and vandalism targeting Christian individuals and sites.

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OIDAC Europe aims to provide objective, reliable, and comparable data to help politicians, institutions, and Christian churches take effective measures to ensure the safety of places of worship and the protection of religious freedom in Europe.

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