EXCREMENT SMEARED ALL OVER CHURCH

In a chilling act of desecration that has left faithful Catholics reeling, the historic Church of Saint Germain in Arudy, France—a sacred house of worship dating back to the 12th century—was defiled in the dark hours of July 12–13. The sanctuary was found smeared with faeces and urine, even beneath the altar cloth and across the sacristy door, in what parish priest Abbé Armand Paillé rightly called a “deliberate attempt to humiliate the Church and its faithful.” This was no mere vandalism; it was a brutal attack on the sacred heart of a centuries-old parish. The Eucharist of reparation held the following day drew only a handful of the stunned and grieving faithful, yet served as a defiant act of love against hatred. This sacrilegious outrage is the latest of several assaults on the church—including theft and the destruction of sacred objects—raising urgent questions about religious persecution and the erosion of respect for Christianity in Europe. As pilgrims continue to walk the Way of St. James, may they find that this wounded church still stands as a testament to the enduring mystery of the Cross.