Assaults towards clergymen look like on the rise across the globe following the most recent assault wherein a priest in Singapore was stabbed within the face throughout a Mass on Saturday Nov. 9., marking not less than the third assault of its variety this month.
Father Christopher Lee – parish priest of St. Joseph church within the west-central Singapore area of Bukit Timah – was attacked by Basnayake Keith Spencer with a knife whereas he was distributing Holy Communion, reported Catholic media outlet OSV Information on Friday.
Spencer has reportedly been charged with the “offense of voluntarily inflicting grievous damage by a harmful weapon” and remanded by a courtroom in Singapore for 3 weeks.
Lee was reported to have sustained a “laceration on his tongue,” together with a lower on his higher lip and on the nook of his mouth. He’s stated to be recovering from his accidents.
The Father in Singapore was not the one priest to have been assaulted final Saturday, as a monastery in Spain’s Valencia area was additionally attacked by a middle-aged man who yelled out “I’m Jesus Christ” throughout his ambush earlier than he was subdued.
Three friars on the Monastery of Santo Espíritu del Monte in Gilet, Spain have been injured within the assault after the unidentified man “wielding a blunt object, burst into the premises with a violent and provocative angle,” in accordance with an announcement by the Immaculate Conception of the Franciscan Order, the neighborhood to which the monastery belongs, reported a number of stories.
Father Juan Antonio Llorente, 76 – one in every of three friars attacked within the incident – died two days later in a hospital after succumbing to his accidents on Monday.
Nov. 9 was marred by one different assault on a priest in Poland, the place Father Lech Lachowicz, 72, died resulting from intensive mind injury following an assault one-week prior.
An axe-wielding 27-year-old – whose id stays unclear – attacked Lachowicz on Nov. 3 in his rectory throughout an alleged theft try in a Szczytno parish in northeastern Poland.
The assailant has been taken into custody.
The collection of assaults throughout the globe got here roughly one month after a priest was brutally attacked inside his Philadelphia residence positioned throughout the road from St. Maron’s Maronite Catholic Church, although he’s reported to be recovering.
Hate crimes towards not solely Catholics, however Jews, Muslims and others, are rising throughout the globe, significantly in Europe and the U.S.
A report launched Friday by the Group for Safety and Co-operation (OSCE) in Europe discovered that throughout 48 nations in Europe, there have been over 4,480 incidents of hate crimes dedicated towards Jews, greater than 580 incidents focusing on Christians and practically 240 reported incidents towards Muslims.
Whereas anti-Christian and anti-Muslim incidents dropped from 2022 OSCE information, crimes towards Jews grew by greater than 20% from the earlier yr.
Within the U.S., 2023 assaults towards Catholics got here in fourth behind focused assaults towards Sikhs, Muslims and Jews respectively – an rising development lately, although the assaults have skyrocketed following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas assault on Israel and the next battle that has ensued within the Gaza Strip, which has since prolonged into Lebanon, and more and more, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
The FBI reported in September that there was a 3% lower in general hate crimes dedicated within the U.S. between 2023 and 2022, however in accordance with its figures, there was additionally a 20% improve within the variety of religiously motivated hate crimes dedicated during the last yr.
Greater than 2,500 incidents of religion-based hate crimes have been reported within the U.S. in 2023, a bounce from the practically 2,050 incidents reported the yr prior.
Whereas greater than half of the religion-based hate crimes in 2022 have been pushed by anti-Jewish bias, that share jumped in 2023 to account for some 67% of all non secular hate crimes within the U.S.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes got here in second with 236 assaults final yr, which accounted for lower than 9 p.c of all religion-based hate crimes that yr, in accordance with the FBI.
Assaults towards Sikhs accounted for five%, and assaults towards Catholics accounted for practically 3%.
All assaults towards Christians, as outlined by Catholic, Protestant and “different Christians,” made up over 6% of non secular hate crimes, accounting for 176 incidents reported in 2023.
The BBC in October reported the same development in Britain and Wales the place there was a 5% lower in general hate crimes however a 25% improve in religion-based hate crimes.
Crimes towards Jews greater than doubled in 2023 the place greater than 3,280 incidents have been reported, up from simply over 1,540 incidents in 2022. Assaults towards Muslims additionally grew by 13% in Britain and Wales.