As the World Burns

Today is the Feast of the North American Martyrs, a group of French Jesuits and religious – Jean de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, Jean de Lalande, Antoine Daniel, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier, Noêl Chabanel, and Br. René Goupil. It’s worth recalling each of them by name as a reminder that they were individuals like us (though holier and more heroic), not merely some distant historical band. They were brave and dedicated men who suffered the most unspeakable horrors – fire, torture, mutilation – on the way to death as they tried to carry out the Lord’s command to preach the Gospel to all nations.    

France, modern France, is herself now undergoing a fiery agony. It’s difficult to sort out exactly who’s responsible. It’s being said to have started as a “student” protest over too few teachers and poor school facilities. But how such protests could have erupted in multiple places all over the nation among “student groups” without some extensive coordination remains unexplained. And whatever the origins, it’s clear that the violence and destruction are coming now from the far-left and the worst elements in France’s large Muslim population. There are reports that even Notre Dame is under potential threat as is the Élysée Palace, the French White House.

This is not an entirely new phenomenon, however, and should call greater attention to the simmering attacks on French institutions in recent years, not least against the Church.

Many people took heart at seeing the enthusiastic crowds that turned out during Pope Leo’s visit to France just a few weeks ago. It’s also difficult to sort out exactly what all that meant. It was very moving to see people kneeling on the sidewalks of the Champs-Élysées making their Confessions. But that’s just the happy part of the story. For many years now, the French Church has been under attack, literally, from various quarters.

The Faith & Reason Institute, the parent institution of The Catholic Thing, has been working on a project in co-operation with Aid to the Church in Need USA, that we’ve named “Faith under Siege.” We mostly look to the clear cases of persecution and, yes, modern martyrdom in Muslim nations these days – Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Yemen, etc. – and totalitarian states such as China, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, and more. But in the course of our research, we’ve also discovered that there’s a subtle and not-so-subtle anti-Christian current even in Western Europe, though it’s hardly reported on.

When there’s an obvious case like the 2016 murder of Fr. Jacques Hamel by two radicalized young Muslims (and the less-reported murders of Catholics at Mass shortly thereafter) the world notices for a week or two, then moves on. But there’s a pattern beneath the most flagrant events.

The world has been shocked over the weekend by images of the historic Limoges town hall burning and its tower collapsing after being torched by rioters. But French authorities have been saying for years that, on average, two religious buildings burn down per month in France. And that despite considerable efforts by the government to protect them.

Everyone, of course, still recalls the mysterious 2019 fire that almost destroyed Notre Dame de Paris.  But the Saint-Maclou/Saint-Jacques Cathedral in Rouen also caught fire, in 2024. That same year, the Basilique de l’Immaculée Conception in Saint-Omer was also damaged by a blaze that was deliberately set. The list goes on and these high-profile events are only the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of smaller churches, shrines, statues, etc., have suffered similar attacks or serious vandalism.

Now, to be sure, there are multiple reasons for the fires. Some are accidental, maybe a third owing to poor wiring, aging infrastructure and the like. But French authorities estimate that two-thirds are deliberately set. It’s not difficult to speculate – because some perpetrators have been caught in the act – that large parts of this are perpetrated by Muslims, other parts by native French who are anti-Catholic. And then there are the usual mental cases, random vandals, and anti-social elements.

It’s curious that major news organizations have waded into these data trying to downplay the anti-Christian element, despite the fact that the French government – hardly a bastion of  Christian chauvinism – sees things quite differently. As in the United States, riots, looting, and vandalism are portrayed in the media as stemming from materialist causes – poverty, inequality, racism – all the usual sociological categories, as if religious belief is never radical, or hardly plays a role in anything that happens in society – unless it’s Christian bigotry.

And when hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million Frenchmen show up to greet a pope, it even provokes some in the media to express “fear” at the uncanny, continuing ability of the Catholic Church to attract people, even if they aren’t particularly devout or don’t attend Mass very often.

And it’s not only France. When Pope Leo went to Spain, it’s estimated that 1.2 million people turned out for his Mass in Madrid. It was briefly noted, then filed away as merely “religious.” Yet if that many people turned out for an anti-Trump rally, an LGBT pride event, or a pro-Palestinian demonstration, we’d be hearing ad nauseam how significant it was and what an indication of a shift in society  it represented – a shift that the reporting would be trying to advance further.

Even when the media have a pope they like, coverage is minimal. Who now remembers, for instance, that 3 million people in Brazil turned out to see Pope Francis in 2013, and at least a million in Ecuador in 2015?

If Pope Leo’s health allows him to make the extensive trip to Latin America that’s planned for next month, we can anticipate that there will be equally huge and enthusiastic crowds as in France and Spain.

Many parts of the world – not just France, but Ukraine, Gaza, the West Bank, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and more – may be burning, but in other places, there’s fire being lit for a very different end.