A religious rights group in Spain is calling on the president of the European Commission to create a Special Coordinator to combat hate crimes against Christians.
The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Spain (El Observatorio para Libertad Religiosa y de Conciencia, OLRC) on Wednesday (July 9) urged Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, to create the position equivalent to existing specialists to combat anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the European Union.
“It is imperative that the European Commission act with the same commitment it shows in the fight against other forms of religious hatred,” OLRC President María García said in a press statement.
Anti-Christian attacks are prevalent she said, as the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) documented 2,444 hate crimes against Christians in 35 European countries in its “Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe Report 2024” report.
The report includes 232 personal attacks such as “harassment, threats and physical violence.”
Asserting that anti-Christian hostilities were growing, the OLRC cited recent “serious attacks” on religious freedom of Christians in both France and Germany.
“In recent weeks, there have been alarming episodes, such as the bursting in of a man shouting [jihadist slogan] ‘Allahu Akbar’ on the altar of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris, the arson attack on a church in Bavaria, or the attack on a sacristan in Rodgau (Germany), using a cross as a weapon,” stated the OLRC.
OLRC highlighted the murder of lay sacristan and father-of-two Diego Valencia Contreras on Jan. 25, 2023. He was hacked to death by terrorist Yassin Kanza outside the San Isidro parish in Algeciras, Spain.
Another murder case cited was the death of a 76-year-old friar in the city of Valencia on Nov. 9 last year. A man claiming to be Jesus Christ entered the Monastery of Santo Espíritu del Monte in Gilet, north of the city, and attacked the monks leaving several others injured.
The OLRC’s last report in 2023 recorded 36 attacks on places of worship and Christian symbols in Spain, “a figure that increases year after year.”
“The European Union cannot look the other way in the face of these murders and attacks on churches,” Garcia said.
It is imperative that the European Commission recognizes the seriousness of these facts and acts with the same commitment it shows in the fight against other forms of religious hatred, she said.
“Coexistence and religious freedom in Europe are threatened,” Garcia said. “Therefore, we request the urgent creation of a Special Coordinator of the European Union for the fight against Christianophobia, to coordinate and implement effective policies to curb these attacks.”
The OLRC urged European citizens to sign a petition on its website to “demand that the European institutions protect in a real and effective way the fundamental rights of all its citizens, especially religious freedom.”
