By MICAIAH BILGER
MEXICO CITY (LifeNews) — A historic 17th century Catholic church was damaged in an arson attack Monday, May 15 in central Mexico, the latest in an alarming rise in violence targeting churches and pro-life organizations across the world.
ACI Prensa reports the Diocese of Irapuato in Guanajuato, Mexico said the fire was set deliberately at Santiaguito (St. James) Church sometime between 1:04 a.m. and 1:26 a.m., and the suspect is male.
“The diocesan Church of Irapuato vigorously condemns this sacrilege, and we ask the corresponding authorities to find those responsible,” Fr. Efren Silva Plascencia, spokesman for the diocese, said in a statement.
Silva said the fire caused extensive smoke damage throughout the “emblematic and iconic” building, which recently underwent restoration work.
“The Church will tirelessly continue in this mission of building peace. Violence always begets violence in any of its expressions,” he said.
Churches and pro-life organizations across the world have been hit by a wave of arson, vandalism, threats, and other crimes in the past few years. LifeNews counted about 250 abortion-related attacks in 2022, including the shooting of an elderly pro-life woman in Michigan and ten arson/attempted arson attacks.
Attacks on Christian churches in the United States alone have almost tripled in the past four years, according to a December report from the Family Research Council (FRC). In April, the organization released supplemental data documenting 69 additional attacks in the first quarter of 2023. In comparison, there were 15 or fewer attacks within the same time period in 2018 through 2021, FRC found.
Others have documented a rise in attacks on churches and Christian organizations in Europe and Canada. According to True North, at least 71 churches in Canada have been vandalized or set on fire within the past two years.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe also tracks violence, censorship, and other attacks on churches in Europe. In its 2021 report, the organization documented more than 500 anti-Christian hate crimes on the continent. According to the organization, the “high rate of hate crimes and growing secular intolerance” is having a “crippling effect on the religious freedom of Christians” throughout Europe.
The increase in crime has prompted many churches and pro-life organizations to increase security measures. In the United States, Republican lawmakers have been demanding action from the Biden administration to crack down on domestic terrorism against pro-life advocates and Christians.
But, while the Biden administration has been aggressively working to expand the killing of unborn babies in abortions, it has done seemingly little to stop the violence and hostilities directed at pro-life advocates and churches.
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