A report by the French government has shown a rise in anti-Christian incidents in 2025.
According to the report, which was published by the Ministry of the Interior in April, there were 843 anti-Christian incidents in 2025, up nine per cent from the previous year.
The vast majority (87 per cent) of anti-Christian incidents involved damage to property by theft, arson, vandalism or graffiti, Evangelical Focus reports.
There were 23 incidents of physical violence, one of homicide or attempted homicide, and 71 cases of threatening words or gestures against Christians.
Looking back over the last 15 years, anti-Christian incidents have gradually risen. Between 2010 and 2016 there was a gradual rise from around 500 incidents per year, to over a 1,000.
From 2016 to 2019 the figure stayed around the 1,000 mark, before dipping slightly to its current 800-900 level.
The story is somewhat different for other faiths. Antisemitic incidents showed the greatest fluctuation. From 2010 to 2015 they broadly followed the Christian pattern before dipping considerably.
From 2016 to 2022 there were approximately half as many antisemitic incidents as there were anti-Christian ones. The Gaza-Israel war appears to have changed that, with antisemitic incidents skyrocketing in 2023 to over 1,500 in a year. While the figure has come down slightly since that peak, it still remains considerably higher than the number of anti-Christian incidents.
Anti-Muslim incidents have also risen slightly in the last year, but with the exception of a peak in 2015, anti-Muslim incidents have remained low in number, averaging in the low hundreds every year since 2010.
The report acknowledged that it couldn’t hope to record every single anti-religious incident, especially when considering activity online and on social media.
Laurent Núñez, Minister of the Interior, said “In recent years, our country has seen a resurgence of anti-religious acts, affecting all faiths.”
