Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 6, 2024 / 16:10 pm
United States Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, is demanding that President Joe Biden protect Catholic churches from the “growing number of attacks” they have suffered since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
In a March 5 letter addressed to the nation’s second Catholic president, Rubio cited a tracker that found more than 400 attacks against Catholic churches since May 2020. The tracker, last updated on March 5, lists numerous examples of property damage, including arson, statue destruction, rocks and bricks being thrown through windows, and the spray-painting of satanic messages.
“These attacks are not random nor are they the result of a temporary lapse in judgment by perpetrators,” Rubio, who is Catholic, wrote. “They are motivated by a deep and abiding animosity towards religious institutions and people of faith.”
The senator noted the examples of recent attacks in New York, in which a woman set fire to a statue of the Virgin Mary, a person beheaded a statue of the baby Jesus, and an individual cut off the hands on a statue of Christ.