A hundred thefts per year and ten times more acts of vandalism! In the almost general indifference, the Catholic churches and chapels of France are the target of daily intrusions, sometimes of a profanatory nature. According to our information, the Central Criminal Intelligence Service (SCRC) of the gendarmerie has identified more than 1,400 degradations between 2018 and 2019, with a " downward trend " observed last year. Sacrilegious equipments had reached a peak of 1,045 incidents in 2017 alone.
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Far from always responding to targeted orders from collectors, two-thirds of thefts are committed without breaking and entering, during the day, during public access hours. “They mainly relate to personal effects (wallets, telephones.) Stolen from the bags or coats of the faithful or visitors, on money from donations (quests, trunks) and on religious objects (ciboriums, chalices and patens stored in the tabernacles - candle holders, statuettes…) , specifies an officer. Furniture and other equipment (chairs, sound system, multimedia equipment, etc.) also arouse envy ”.
The investigations do not always allow to find the trace of the burglars or the vandals, whose motivations are confused.If the amount of loot for resale is generally insignificant, some parts feed structured traffic. Thus, last February, two thirty-something appeared in court in Boulogne-sur-Mer for the theft of 200 religious objects committed in Hauts-de-France. Arrested in possession of statues, chalices and other relics estimated at 200,000 euros, they received a simple sentence of six and eight months suspended sentence. The investigations do not always allow to find the trace of the burglars or the vandals, whose motivations are confused.
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While field investigators often see it as the work of idle teenagers or young adults, some profiles cause stupor. Thus, a former priest was sentenced last June, in Blois, to one year suspended sentence for theft of cultural property. From 2009 to 2013, depending on his assignments, he looted churches before reselling his loot to antique dealers for a sum of 80,000 euros. Described as “atypical” , this religious played scratch cards.
The video protection option
Due to the desertification of the countryside and of the faithful, the protection of 45,000 Catholic places of worship turns into a puzzle. If the gendarmes multiply the security rounds, the solution has long resided in the closing of buildings outside offices or visiting hours. The option of video protection, long considered with caution by the faithful who wish to pray far from the cameras, seems to be generalized. Without mentioning it explicitly, since its last version dates back to 1983, the code of canon law, which governs the Latin Church, does not ban the establishment of such devices. In fact, it provides that "all administrators of ecclesiastical property" can "ensure that the property entrusted to them does not perish and does not suffer any damage in any way whatsoever" . In Europe, France is, behind Italy, the second country most affected by the scourge of theft in places of worship.