The Catholic Bishop of Virginia says that the desecration of the main altar in the Basilica of St. Peter on Friday points to the larger world trend of attack against Catholics.
“What happened in St. Peter’s Basilica, unfortunately the last in the growing global trend of attacks on Catholic Churchincluding his priests and believers, “Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, told Fox News Digital.
On Friday, the man jumped on the main altar at St. Peter’s Basilica and knocked on a 19th century candelabra.
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On X, the Incident videos show that the individual casts candlesticks on the ground and tear off the altar cloth before throwing it to the ground.
According to The Italian news of AnsaThe cost of six candelabra that the individual has thrown to the ground is estimated at $ 30,000 or $ 31,000.
Fox News Digital The Vatican Printing Office came and did not immediately receive an answer, but the Vatican Printing Office said Ansa -in that “this is an episode of a person with a serious mental disability, which was detained by the Vatican gendarmerie and handed it to the Italian authorities.”
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Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington poses for a picture with Bridget. (Diocese of Arlington)
Burbidge, which was installed in 2016, told Fox News Digital to “always worry the attacks on the Church, but Scripture reminds us that Jesus Christ and his followers will always be signs of contradiction that will oppose in this world.”
He added that “we all have to pray for a man who committed violence in St. Peter’s Basilica and that God can pour his grace to any heart hurt or who can be tempted to destroy.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Catholicvota said the attack was spiritually and politically motivated.
“Although the motive of a man who destroyed the altar in St. Peter is not immediately clear, an epidemic we see cannot be attributed to simply drugs or mental illness. There are clear spiritual and political motivation behind the disturbing increase,” Tommy Valentine, Director of Catholic Liability Project in Catholicvote.
Valentine added that the attacks on the Catholic churches in the United States were “undeniably guided by native extremists and other anti-Catholic fractions”.
“In Canada, dozens of churches are burned on earth because it is a fraud of” mass graves “, which seems to be a complete fiction because no tomb has been found. In France, there is a mixture of radical secularism and Islamic extremism driving in India.
According to the report from The conference of the United States for Catholic bishops, There were at least 366 attacks on the Catholic churches in the United States in 43 countries and the Columbia district of May 2020.
A priest attacked at the Catholic Church in the city center of Spokan (Facebook/ Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes)
These attacks include “fire, statues of beheaded, cut limbs, broken and colored, tombstones lined with swastika and anti-Catholic tongue, and American flags beside them burned and other destruction and vandalism,” according to USCCB.
Valentine, Director of Catholic Responsibility Project in Catholicvote, told Fox News Digital da Catholicvote is also monitoring the attack Catholic churches and documented 484 attacks since May 2020.
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So far, 2025. Catholicvota has documented six attacks on the Catholic Church.
“Public officials in every country have a duty to defend religious freedom,” Valentine said. “Anti -Catholic rhetoricWhich is often now in the Western world, obviously leads to violence. We hope that the new Trump administration will set a new standard for the world protecting the Catholic churches just as much as other places of worship, “Valentine added.
