Case Register: Church Incidents 2024–2026
A case register verified by 9 parallel research tracks: 840 documented incidents at churches and Christian sites across 11 countries (2024–2026) — every line with date, location, offence type, motive status, source and source class. Raw data public, recomputable.
Methodology
This register was built on 24 Oct 2026 by 9 parallel research tracks (8 regions, UK restarted after a fix):
- OIDAC incident database read directly — all entries per country (Germany 139 cases 2024, France 60, Southern Europe 454, UK/Ireland complete via country filter) — and individually verified
- Police press releases screened (presseportal.de, state police services, police.uk, berlin.de, medienservice.sachsen.de …)
- Local/regional press as a second filter per region (all 16 German states, French départements, Spanish/Italian/Austrian/Swiss regions, British regional press)
- Cross-check of official balances (BMI-PMK, French Interior Ministry, OPR/Sénat) against the case counts
- Date check on every case — several cases circulating virally turned out to be from 2018–2020 or 2026 and were excluded
Source classes: PRIMARY = police/court/authority · WATCHDOG = OIDAC/OPR/christianophobie.fr · INDICATION = local press (upgradeable)
The numbers at a glance
| Region | Verified cases | of which in OIDAC register | PRIMARY sources | INDICATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany 2024 (16 states) | ~118 | 139 screened | 55 | 68 |
| France 2024 | ~81 | 62 | 2 | 75 |
| France 2025–26 | ~72 | 56 | 7 | 21 |
| Southern Europe (ES/PT/IT/AT/CH) | ~508 | 454 | 3 | 47 |
| UK & Ireland 2024–26 | 61 | 60 | 36 | 30 |
| Total | ~840 | 697 | 103 | 241 |
The five main findings
1. The OIDAC list is solid — but not complete and not error-free
Of 139 German OIDAC cases 2024, samples were individually verified against police and local sources — confirmed at the core, with documented errors:
- Dating error: case “Weihenlinden” dated by OIDAC as 12 Jan 2024 — the police press release shows 29 Dec 2023
- Country mis-tagging: case 9117 “Withington” tagged as Ireland — it is in Herefordshire/England · case 9451 (Limavady) is Northern Ireland/UK, not Ireland
- Case 9124 “Tunbridge, Wales” comes, per the source article, from Tunbridge/Vermont/USA — not included
- Press gap of ~50 % for small attempted arsons (especially in overseas départements: only christianophobie.fr documents them)
2. The real Germany number sits between the poles
The official PMK statistics count 0–2 church arsons for 2024 (motive definition gap), OIDAC counts 33. Verification shows: the 33 include series and dangerous small fires; the real number sits between both poles. Moreover, the research found cases missing from OIDAC (e.g. Dormagen 14–16 Jan 2024, 2× church break-in, police PR; Zülpich 4 Mar 2024, arson in a chapel, police PR).
3. Damage sums escalate faster than case counts
Baden-Württemberg (state parliament document 17/9782, PRIMARY): offences in church facilities fell 1,287 (2023) → 1,128 (2024), but the damage sum tripled to €1.2m — theft pattern: fewer, larger, more organised acts.
4. Motives are almost universally undetermined by police
In the UK register (61 cases): documented motives in only 3 cases (New Forest/court, Leyland/hate crime, Swansea/far-right symbols). France the same: “motive open” dominates massively. The motive openness is itself the scandal — it makes statistical “anti-Christian” numbers a lower bound.
5. Viral recycling of old cases as “current”
Excluded from the register (with evidence): Heiligenhafen (2018), Golzwarden (2019), Reinberg (2020), Mühlhausen/Divi-Blasii (2023) — circulating on social media as “church fires 2024”. And the opposite direction: “Bringolo as an attack” was, per an expert assessment, an accident.
The gravest individual cases (selection, all sourced in the register)
| Date | Location | Offence | Source class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09 Nov 2024 | Gilet (Valencia, ES), Monasterio Espíritu Santo | Monk (76) dead, 7 injured | INDICATION (El Mundo) + OIDAC |
| 26–29 May 2024 | Leipzig-Mockau (DE), Stephanuskirche | Organ looted, >€100,000 | PRIMARY (PD Leipzig 257/24) + OIDAC |
| 02 Jan 2024 | Cologne Cathedral | Bomb attack plan, 5 arrests (thwarted) | OIDAC + press |
| 19 Dec 2024 | Elche (ES), Basilica of Santa María | Islamist attack thwarted, 4 teens arrested | INDICATION + OIDAC |
| 14 May 2024 | Poitiers (FR), Ste-Thérèse | Pews set on fire + Mary beheaded; migrant rumour debunked | INDICATION+WATCHDOG |
| 03 May 2024 | Cuenca (ES), convent | Arson; perpetrator sentenced to 5 years; “migrant” hoax debunked | INDICATION (verdict) |
Raw data & recomputability
All raw data is public in this repository:
dokumente/oidac-fallregister/oidac_de_2024_full.json— Germany 2024, 139 OIDAC cases (machine-extracted)dokumente/oidac-fallregister/oidac_france_2024_full.json— France 2024dokumente/oidac-fallregister/oidac_faelle_suedeuropa_2024_2026.json— ES/PT/IT/AT/CH, 454 casesquellen/fallregister/*.md— the 7 regional registers in full (with exclusion lists, statistics blocks, all URLs)
Whoever doubts a number on this page: the JSONs contain case ID, date, location, source URL — every line is a verification instruction.
Open questions
- The state-level gaps: how many church offences 2024/2025 in the 16 German states (all motives)? Only obtainable via 16 state parliament inquiries — Baden-Württemberg (document 17/9782) shows the data exists. Inquiry template for contributors wanted.
- Portugal: why are police bias motives not recorded? (10 OIDAC cases total, 6 property offences — below any plausibility threshold)
- How many of the “undetermined motives” would be “anti-Christian” if consistently pursued? Either would be speculation — only the openness itself is documented.
This register is a working tool, not truth itself: it lists what is documented — and shows where documentation is missing. Additions and corrections via pull request, with source.