Anti-Christian hate crimes across Europe remained at a consistently high level in June, with forty incidents recorded across ten countries, according to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe).
The Vienna-based organisation said June saw the second-highest monthly total of 2026, surpassed only by March’s 41 recorded incidents. The cases included attacks on churches, clergy, Christian institutions and individuals, as well as threats against converts from Islam.
OIDAC said the June figures comprised 12 arson-related attacks, nine cases of vandalism, eight incidents of desecration, three physical assaults, three thefts targeting religious objects, two threats, one case combining vandalism and violence, one disruption of worship, and one attempted occupation of a religious site.
France recorded the highest number of incidents, with 11, followed by Germany with eight, and Italy with seven. Poland registered four cases, while Belgium and Spain each recorded two. Additional incidents were documented in the Netherlands, Estonia, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.
Among the incidents highlighted by the organisation were threats against a Catholic religion teacher and convert from Islam in Belgium, the assault of a parish priest during an attack on his presbytery in Corsica, the burning of a missal inside a church in France, the disruption of Catholic prayer in Poissy by individuals shouting “Allahu Akbar” and anti-Christian slogans, and an online ISIS-linked call for terrorist attacks ahead of the Pope’s visit to Spain.
OIDAC also pointed to repeated attacks on Holy Spirit Church in Hanau, Germany, which came under projectile fire for the second consecutive month, and the suspected arson destruction of the former Convent of Mercy in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.
The organisation said the “most persistent trend remained the continued prevalence of arson-related attacks,” with June’s 12 cases only one fewer than May’s record of 13. Vandalism also reached its highest monthly level since March, while the eight desecration cases “underline that many Christian communities are not facing isolated events but sustained patterns of hostility.”
In France, OIDAC said official figures from the Interior Ministry showed 843 anti-Christian crimes were recorded in 2025, including 734 attacks on property and 109 against individuals. The watchdog said this represented a 9% increase on the previous year, while attacks on people had risen by 70%.
The organisation noted that its statistics include only incidents where anti-Christian bias could be established. It said dozens of additional thefts, break-ins, fires, and cases of property damage affecting churches and Christian sites were not included because investigators could not conclusively determine a religious motive.
