A series of thefts in churches in Vienne agitated the faithful of the diocese. For nine months, nearly a dozen burglaries were committed in places of worship in the department. The cops are investigating. Because the facts are not limited only to Poitou.
Vicq-sur-Gartempe, Bonneuil-Matours, Usson-du-Poitou, Neuville, Saint-Pierre-de-Chauvigny, Jazeneuil but also Angoulême and Limoges. At least 14 thefts have taken place since last May in churches in the region.
A specific research group created
Each time, the criminals left with chalices and monstrances used at mass, objects of little value, but which are made of metal and which can therefore be remelted to make jewelry, vases. Ideal for receivers. Thefts are often committed in broad daylight in buildings open to the public, which complicates the task of investigators.
Faced with the multiplication of complaints, the gendarmerie has created a specific investigation group in connection with the companies of Poitiers, Châtellerault and Montmorillon. The archdiocese has been informed of the situation. Clerics and lay people are invited to be vigilant. No arrests have been made to date.
Repeated attacks on the community… but not necessarily linked to each other
These thefts are added to degradations and acts of intimidation affecting the Catholic community but the facts are not a priori all linked together. First, there are these acts of vandalism committed in Poitiers for a week: a plaster statue of Christ thrown to the ground in Saint Porchaire and six statues of various sizes depicting decapitated nativity figures inside the Sainte-Thérèse church in the Bel-Air district. The track of an unbalanced person acting alone is favored by the police.
Finally, still in Poitiers, there is these violent posters plastered last October on the doors of the Catholic school of the Christian Union with this invitation “Burn the facho factory”. Suspicions relate to small groups of the far left. In this last part, the investigation opened by the Poitiers prosecutor’s office is still in progress.