In a recent address to the UN Human Rights Council, the Vatican condemed the destruction of religious symbols and any form of religious hatred or intolerance.
The address referenced an event that Pope Francis also publicly condemned—last month's incident in Sweden where a young person from Iraq burned the Koran in front of a mosque. It comes at a time when religious hate crimes are on the rise in Europe. According to research from the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians, hate crimes have increased from 325 in 2018 to over 500 in 2021.
MADELEINE ENZLBERGER
Executive Director, Observatory
We did see that there were a lot of hate crimes committed against churches where people were attacked, churches were vandalized, Masses were interrupted, things like that. And this is really where you know everybody should draw the line, I would say.
The Vatican delegate to the United Nations said religious hate crimes abuse the invaluable gift of freedom of expression and fuel intolerance in a world already scarred by conflict.
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