New report notes ‘significant rise’ in ‘personal attacks’ on Christians in Europe

Friday, Nov. 21, 2025

In its 2025 report, the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians, or OIDAC, noted “a significant rise in personal attacks” against Christians in 2024.

The OIDAC Europe Report 2025, which was published Nov. 17, identified 2,211 anti-Christian hate crimes in 2024, a slight decrease from the 2,444 incidents recorded last year.

However, personal attacks against Christians increased to 274, up from 232 in last year’s report. It also noted a “sharp spike in arson attacks targeting churches and other Christian sites.”

According to OIDAC Europe’s findings, most anti-Christian hate crimes were recorded in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Austria.

Among the most notable crimes was the killing of a 76-year-old monk during an attack at the Monastery of Santo Espíritu del Monte in Gilet, Spain; a man shot dead in January 2024 by Islamic State militants while attending Sunday Mass in Istanbul; and the near-destruction, by arson, of a Catholic Church in Saint-Omer, France.

The report also documented 516 anti-Christian hate crimes; however, when “theft and break-ins at religious sites are included, the figure rises to 1,503.”

“Alarmingly, 94 arson attacks were recorded – almost double the previous year’s total. One-third (33) of these occurred in Germany, where the Bishops’ Conference recently warned that ‘all taboos have been broken’ regarding church vandalism,” the OIDAC said.

The report also highlighted restrictions against Christians, particularly individuals prosecuted for silent prayer near abortion facilities, including the case of Adam Smith-Connor, a U.K. army veteran convicted in 2024 and ordered to pay 9,000 British pounds (US $11,700) for praying in silence within a buffer zone around an abortion clinic.

Noting the rise in attacks against Christians, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, known as COMECE, called on the EU to appoint a coordinator on combating anti-Christian hatred in Europe, similar to coordinators afforded to Jews and Muslims on the continent.

“We consider that the time is mature for this step, while not questioning the specificity of Jewish and Muslim communities, which are already covered by similar coordinators. It is not a question of victimism, but equal access to tools of protection,” Alessandro Calcagno, COMECE adviser for fundamental rights, said Dec. 4.

According to Father Manuel Barrios Prieto, COMECE general secretary, the call for an EU coordinator for combating anti-Christian hatred was met with surprise “because if one sees it from outside, one says that Christianity is the majority religion in the European Union, so there’s not really this problem,” Fr. Barrios Prieto told OSV News Nov. 12. “But we know that this problem exists.”