Social media posts circulating in 2024 have misrepresented an unofficial map of reported attacks on churches in France, including thefts and vandalism, claiming it specifically shows Christian religious buildings that were “set on fire”. The map, which dates back to at least 2019, was published by a Catholic organisation that tracks “anti-Christian acts” and has not been updated in recent years.
“This was a few years ago, but it points out the churches and cathedrals “set on fire” in France,” read a simplified Chinese X post that shared the map on July 12, 2024.
The map of France shows red icons dotted across the country with symbols including flames, guns and buildings.
Similar posts emerged in French and English after a fire broke out on July 11 in the spire of the cathedral in the French city of Rouen.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze, which was “very likely accidental”, Rouen prosecutor Frédéric Teillet said.
However, the map in fact shows “anti-Christian acts” — including but not limited to church fires — recorded by the Observatory for Christianophobia, a French Catholic organisation that has been tracking such events since 2016.
While the Observatory’s interactive map was no longer available online in July 2024, an archived version showed that the red markers indicate reported incidents of arson, murder or assault, vandalism, theft, attack and kidnapping.
The map of France does not appear in the archived version of the map, but the placement of the red markets is the same as in social media posts.
The map previously circulated online after a fire ravaged Notre-Dame in Paris in April 2019, when social media posts falsely claimed it showed a recent spike in church attacks.
At the time, fact checkers from France 24’s Observateurs pointed out that the map showed a range of “Christianophobic” acts and had last been updated in December 2018 (archived link).
‘Anti-Christian acts’
According to the Observatory for Christianophobia’s website, the organisation is “run primarily by Catholics” and aims to “identify anti-Christian acts, however serious, wherever they are committed and regardless of the Christian denomination targeted” (archived link).
While the map is no longer available online, the Observatory continues to report on various incidents at churches in France and abroad.
An article on the Rouen Cathedral fire was published on the organisation’s “Christianophobia in France” page — despite the fact it said that the blaze was “probably related to ongoing building work” (archived link).
The website’s records therefore cannot be viewed 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 construction site in the church (archived link).
Fire statistics
Fires at places of worship in France are rare, according to a 2019 report published after the Notre-Dame fire by the Laboratoire Lavoué fire investigation service (archived link).
“There are very few fires in places of worship (a few dozen a year in France),” it said, although they have a “considerable impact”.
While the risk of accidental fire in places of worship was “very small” during normal periods excluding during restoration work, most religious buildings were “very vulnerable” to arson, it added.
A spokeswoman for France’s Observatory for Religious Heritage (OPR) told AFP on July 12 that the organisation recorded 27 church fires in 2023 and 12 in the first six months of 2024, with most of them accidental (archived link).
“There’s a recurring pattern. You’ve got slate tiles on the roof that get dislodged, water comes in and gets into the electrical wires,” said Claire Daniely, the OPR’s head of facilities for religious buildings — adding that electric heaters were also culprits for starting fires.
The French culture ministry said in a 2023 report that “defective or inadequate electrical installations” were to blame for more than 30 percent of cases of damage in the country’s historic monuments, including cathedrals (archived link).
Hot work operations, improper storage, lightning and “malicious activities” were among the other main 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 MP Ludovic Mendes (archived link).
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