The Sunday service was well and truly disrupted. Parishioners and the parish priest had the unpleasant surprise of discovering the Saint-Martin church in Orly, on the border with Choisy-le-Roi, on Rue Vasco da Gama, in the city of pilots, vandalised. In particular, a statue, most likely of the Virgin Mary, had been decapitated. We have filed a complaint with the Choisy-le-Roi police station,” announced the Val-de-Marne diocese, adding: “We checked and the consecrated hosts contained in the tabernacle were stolen. So the church was not vandalised, but desecrated”. An important nuance for Catholics.
On Sunday, parishioners came across a bizarre scene. The statue, which had been removed from its pedestal, lay two steps from the altar, decapitated, with pieces of porcelain all around it. The altar cloth was lying around on the floor, as was a candle, a lectern and two books that looked like a Bible or a collection of psalms. Some flower pots were also smashed. In addition, “a box of hosts was stolen”, the diocese reports.
Alain Girard, the deputy mayor in charge of the neighbourhood, condemns the “nefarious” acts. They stole the money from the wooden box. The perpetrator or perpetrators had come twice. They are said to have come on the night of Thursday to Friday and on the night of Saturday to Sunday.” The church is attended by parishioners from both communities.
“I hope that the perpetrator or perpetrators will be quickly arrested and severely punished,” Philippe Bouriachi, a councillor from Orly (Val-de-Marne), expressed his anger on social media, condemning “this act of vandalism in the strongest terms”. Numerous posts of support followed. In recent years, the number of those addressing the issue has increased greatly. Le Parisien