Spanish church vandalized, robbed amid notable rise in anti-Catholic violence

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Spanish church vandalized, robbed amid notable rise in anti-Catholic violence
St. Josemaría Escrivá parish in the town of Alcorcón, Spain has been vandalized, a few years after the parish priest was stabbed before Mass.



Father Javier Contreras
YouTube

Jun 26, 2023
ALCORCÓN, Spain (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic church in Spain has been vandalized amid a continuing wave of anti-Catholic violence across the world.

During the night of June 15-16, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Josemaría Escrivá parish in the town of Alcorcón, Spain was vandalized and robbed. It is the same church in which Father Javier Contreras was stabbed in 2020.

“Tonight, our parish has been partially vandalized and robbed,” Contreras reported, according to Catholic News Agency. “Thank God, the tabernacle and the sacred vessels were unharmed, but [otherwise] there was a great deal of damage.”

Far from being angry at the vandals, Contreras requested prayers for the perpetrators and forgave them, saying, “We ask you for prayers for those poor people, whom we forgive.”

The 76-year-old priest showed similar compassion when he was attacked and stabbed by a mentally unstable young man on September 24, 2020, as he prayed before morning Mass.

According to Contreras, the attacker was “a young kid with a psychiatric condition and who seems to have wanted one less priest.”

The assailant inflicted “three light stab wounds that could have been something else, especially [affecting] the sternum.”

However, trying to downplay the attack, Contreras stated, “I defended myself like Bruce Lee in priest’s clothing, and thanks to that the wounds weren’t greater.”

“There was no hatred of God [on the part of the aggressor] in all this, but an acute psychotic crisis, I hope so at least,” the parish priest told his parishioners from the hospital. “I am at peace and eager to continue working for the Lord.”

Anti-Catholic attacks are rising across the world. One report revealed that over 300 Catholic churches in the United States have been hit with destructive acts of vandalism since spring 2020.

In France, reports showed that there was a 70% increase in anti-Catholic hate crimes from 2019 to 2020.

In early March, abortion activists attacked churches in Latin America to celebrate International Women’s Day. Rioters broke windows, attacked police and civilians, and covered walls with anti-life graffiti and slogans in support of their so-called ‘right’ to abortion access.

Later in the same month, Sacred Heart Church in Bordeaux was desecrated by vandals who marked the church’s doors and walls with satanic and communist phrases and symbols.

On March 29, Antifa members vandalized two Catholic churches in Munich over support for the March for Life that was set to take place a few days later.

In June, St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church, a historic 118-year-old building, was reduced to a pile of rubble after being consumed by a fire, making it one of over 100 churches to have burned down or been vandalized in Canada in recent years.