The map previously circulated online after a fire devastated Notre Dame in Paris in April 2019, when social media posts falsely claimed to show a recent increase in attacks on churches.
At the time, fact-checkers from France 24 Observers pointed out that the map showed a series of “Christianophobic” acts and was last updated in December 2018 (archived link).
‘Anti-Christian acts’
According to the Christianophobia Observatory websitethe organization is “primarily run by Catholics” and aims to “identify anti-Christian acts, however serious, wherever they are committed and regardless of the Christian denomination targeted” (archived link).
Although the map is no longer available online, the Observatory continues to report several incidents in churches in France and abroad.
An article about the fire at Rouen Cathedral was Published on the organization’s “Christianphobia in France” page — despite it saying the fire was “probably related to ongoing construction work” (archived link).
The site’s records, therefore, cannot be seen as a complete compilation of anti-Christian attacks.
French media reported that the fire may have been caused by a spark from welding work at a church construction site (archived link).
Fire Statistics
Fires in places of worship in France are rare, according to a study 2019 Report published after the fire at Notre-Dame by the fire investigation service Laboratoire Lavoué (archived link).
“There are very few fires in places of worship (a few dozen per year in France),” he said, although they have a “considerable impact.”
Although the risk of accidental fire in places of worship was “very small” during normal times, excluding during restoration work, most religious buildings were “very vulnerable” to arson, he added.
A spokeswoman for the French Observatory of Religious Heritage (OPR) told AFP on July 12 that the organization recorded 27 church fires in 2023 and 12 in the first six months of 2024, most of them accidental (archived link).
“There’s a recurring pattern. There are slate tiles on the roof that get dislodged, water comes in and gets into electrical wires,” said Claire Daniely, head of facilities for religious buildings at OPR – adding that electric heaters were also used. guilty of starting fires.
The French culture ministry said in a 2023 report report that “faulty or inadequate electrical installations” were responsible for more than 30 percent of cases of damage to the country’s historic monuments, including cathedrals (archived link).
Hot work operations, improper storage, lightning, and “malicious activity” were among the other leading causes of damage (archived link).
More than 850 “anti-Christian acts” were committed in France in 2021, according to a report by French senator Isabelle Florennes and deputy Ludovic Mendes (archived link).
