These included more than 100 acts of graffiti on Catholic property in 2020, many of which included anti-Christian slogans. Other Catholic churches were vandalized with LGBTI symbols.
Women’s rights activists vandalized a monument to unborn children at night with black paint in a Polish Catholic cemetery in October 2020.
Abortion activists also vandalized a cross at a cemetery commemorating victims of Nazism in the same month, according to the report.
People praying in front of a Catholic cathedral were assaulted by women’s rights activists, who threw bottles, stones, and firecrackers, injuring several worshippers.
In Spain, a monastery and four other churches were vandalized on International Women’s Day in 2020. At the monastery, a group of women’s rights protesters also disrupted Mass with anti-Christian slogans.
Arson attacks on Catholic churches
There were a number of arson attacks on Catholic churches reported in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
In one instance in Germany, disinfectant was poured over pews in a Catholic church and then set on fire.
A Catholic cathedral in France was also vandalized with excrement smeared by perpetrators, who then attempted to set the church on fire in February 2020.
Ten masked individuals targeted another Catholic church in France in an arson attack in October 2020 by pushing a car up to the church and then setting it on fire causing significant damage.
In Switzerland, a Catholic church’s organ loft was set on fire in March 2020.
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Hate crimes and social media
Catholic priests in Spain were sent death threats via social media in November 2020. Catholic priests in Poland felt threatened when an image depicting a shot priest was circulated on social media along with anti-Catholic insults.
A man who converted to Christianity in Italy also received death threats via social media in November 2020.
In other cases, the perpetrators shared their hate crimes on social media. Women's rights activists in Poland filmed themselves throwing eggs at a Catholic church and posted it to social media in October 2020.
Violent attacks against Christians
Despite the lockdown measures that kept many people socially isolated in 2020, there were still reported violent attacks on Christians, albeit fewer than in 2019.