Anti-Christian incidents across Europe rose sharply in May, with new figures showing the highest monthly number of arson-related attacks recorded so far this year.
According to a report released by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe), 37 anti-Christian hate crimes were documented during the month, targeting churches, Christian institutions, religious symbols and individual believers.
The latest figures follow OIDAC Europe's April report, which recorded 38 anti-Christian hate crimes across the continent.
While violence, intimidation and disruptions to worship featured prominently during Easter celebrations, May was marked by a significant rise in arson attacks against Christian sites.
OIDAC documented 13 cases across Europe during May, the highest monthly total recorded in 2026.
The attacks ranged from fires inside church buildings to incidents targeting religious objects and parish facilities.
Among cases recorded in the British Isles, police in Warrington began an investigation following multiple fires in a former church building.
An arson-related attack was also reported in Ireland. Germany and Italy each recorded four arson-related incidents, while France recorded three. In Germany, the arson attacks occurred in Marbach, Munich, Delmenhorst and Gladbeck.
In Italy, The Basilica of San Siro in Genoa was defaced with anti-clerical graffiti that included messages advocating the burning of churches.
In Poland, an attempted arson attack on a chapel in Krosno damaged an icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
The 37 anti-Christian hate crimes recorded by OIDAC Europe during the month comprised 13 arson attacks, 10 acts of vandalism and three of desecrations, one disruption to worship, three physical assaults, one instance of incitement, three thefts of sacred objects, and three cases involving both property damage and violence.
Germany recorded the highest number of incidents – at 10 cases – followed by Italy and France with eight each.
Additional incidents were documented in Poland, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Greece, the UK, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
OIDAC Europe highlighted several particularly serious cases.
While roughly 200 people were attending Mass in Hanau’s Holy Spirit Church, unidentified attackers shot steel and plastic pellets at a church, smashing several windows.
A nun was reportedly assaulted at a bus stop in Poland, verbally abused and had the cross she was wearing ripped from her neck.
Two Catholic fraternity students suffered severe injuries during an assault in Innsbruck, Austria, allegedly perpetrated by individuals linked to the far-left.
Elsewhere, a priest in Portugal was reportedly held against his will for around an hour and a half during a robbery at a church and parish residence in Cantanhede, while in Greece a historic church bell tower in Chania was damaged in a shotgun attack.
Beyond physical attacks on buildings, OIDAC Europe said several incidents demonstrated continuing hostility toward Christians themselves and Christian organisations.
One example cited in the report involved a café run by Christians in Leipzig, Germany, which recently closed after its operators said it had been targeted in 26 separate incidents during a two-and-a-half-year span.
According to the café's management, repeated vandalism, graffiti, butyric acid attacks and other forms of harassment, allegedly linked people connected to far-left extremist circles, eventually made the business financially unsustainable.
The report also referenced figures recently presented to the Greek Parliament showing that 4,409 incidents affecting Orthodox Church properties were recorded in Greece between 2015 and 2024, representing more than 96% of all incidents involving religious sites in the country.
Alongside the hate crimes included in its statistics, OIDAC reported dozens of other incidents involving damage to Christian property for which no clear anti-Christian motive could be identified. These included thefts, break-ins, vandalism and fires that remain under investigation.
As such, the organisation said the figures likely represent only a portion of the anti-Christian hostility occurring across Europe.
Nevertheless, it said the incidents recorded during May indicate that attacks on Christian places of worship, religious symbols, institutions and believers remain a persistent issue across a wide range of European countries.
The report comes amid broader debate over how anti-Christian incidents are recognised by European institutions.
Earlier this year, the European Centre for Law and Justice criticised a resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on religious discrimination, arguing that it failed to explicitly address anti-Christian hostility despite acknowledging concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia.
