Map Exhibits All French Church buildings 'Set on Fireplace, Vandalized or Attacked in Latest Years'?

Declare:

A map reveals the entire church buildings in France that have been “set on hearth, vandalized or attacked lately.”

Ranking:

Social media customers are sharing a map with the false declare it reveals French church buildings “destroyed,” “vandalized” or “attacked” in “latest years.”

On Sept. 15, 2024, an X (archive) submit with the map claimed, “Church buildings burned or vandalized in France lately. Everyone knows it is not random.” A minimum of two different posts — one on X (archive) and one other on Reddit (archive) posts — made the identical declare in September 2024.

Church buildings burned or vandalized in France lately. Everyone knows it is not random. pic.twitter.com/B6fPpenH0x

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) September 15, 2024

The map typically spreads within the wake of large fires at French church buildings that make international headlines. In line with the Catholic News Agency, a historic church within the French city Saint-Omer was broken in a fireplace on Sept. 2. That outlet alleged it was arson.

We first observed the map spreading throughout social media platforms after the Notre Dame cathedral caught hearth in April 2019. In July 2024, posts began to spread the map as soon as again as a fireplace that was later contained broke out on the spire of a French cathedral.

After we fact-checked the declare in 2019, we discovered posts blamed the Notre Dame hearth on Muslims and connected the incident (which authorities reportedly stated was seemingly an accident on the time) to church buildings that had been just lately vandalized in France. 

Social media posts containing the declare in 2024 continued to baselessly blame Muslims for the incidents documented on the map. One X account commented on a submit that contained the map: “This may solely get worst. These Islamists will first burn church buildings, then homicide Christians and Jews.”

Nevertheless, these claims weren’t true. In 2019, we discovered this map got here from christianophobie.fr, a website devoted to monitoring acts of “Christianophobia” in France and the remainder of the world.

Whereas this picture is commonly shared as if it reveals the entire church buildings that have been “destroyed” in France, the map really documented a variety of nefarious exercise — comparable to vandalism, theft, and arson — that occurred at each church buildings and cemeteries over an obvious span of two years overlaying 2017 and 2018.

It must also be famous that whereas this map documented some comparatively severe crimes, comparable to arson or the toppling of church statues, many of those pins corresponded to graffiti-related incidents. We additionally discovered one pin associated to an individual merely interrupting a church service.

We have fact-checked different claims about French church buildings earlier than, like whether or not images authentically showed the true cranium of Mary Magdalene inside a gold reliquary.

Sources