Cathedral robbed at Oloron Sainte Marie

[billmclaughlin]

Thieves used a car with a tree trunk strapped to it to smash down the door of a historic cathedral in south west France to steal several items of high value.

Ramraiders 'strap tree trunk to car' to smash their way into French cathedral

Thieves used a car with a tree trunk strapped to it to smash down the door of a historic cathedral in south west France to steal several items of high value.

www.thelocal.fr

Oloron-Sainte-Marie : la cathédrale attaquée à la voiture-bélier

VIDÉO. Les voleurs se sont introduits dans l'édifice classé au patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco grâce à un tronc d'arbre fixé sur une voiture, selon Europe 1.

www.lepoint.fr

 

[t2andreo]

There is a special place in Hell for persons who would gratuitously steal from any church. I like to think it is eternity stoking the boilers...

 

[oursonpolaire]

Theft of church valuables and art was a real problem in Spain in the 1970s and 1980s and led to the transfer of much art to diocesan museums in places such as Jaca on the Aragonese, and Santillana del Mar on the del Norte. It is also one of the reasons why many churches along the Camino are closed when not in use for services, in order to satisfy insurance companies.

 

[VNwalking]

Jesus wept.
That is so sad.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Holy SMOKES!
What kind of a horrible person does this?

 

[billmclaughlin]

Update: Stolen items include chalices, crosses, monstrances, and at least one 16th-century cope, a gift to the local bishop from François 1er.
There are security cameras at either end of the town, which may provide info. The thieves abandoned one of their two vehicles at the scene.

 

[oursonpolaire]

I'm not sure when the thief would be able to wear the cope.... perhaps he's a vestment-frustrated canon at some obscure cathedral??

 

[VNwalking]

What kind of a horrible person does this?

Someone who has been taught that money will create happiness?
If so, they have a few nasty surprises in store.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Jesus wept.
That is so sad.

The shortest verse in the Bible, yet says so much.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Theft of church valuables and art was a real problem in Spain in the 1970s and 1980s

It's been an ongoing problem in France as far as theft is concerned for about 70 years plus -- it happens somewhere pretty much every week, that and the multiple desecrations that people have also been doing since the turn of the century for various religious or anti-religious reasons. In fact, if you include the history of the iconoclasts or various revolutionaries wrecking or even destroying churches, this sort of thing goes back to the 16th Century ...

It is the single basic reason why the churches in France nearly always look bare compared to those of Spain and Italy. Nearly all of the churches have suffered from acts of vandalism and/or theft.

In a way, the French mainstream media treated this as being newsworthy mainly because of the extraordinary battering ram method that was used, and because it was not just any old church, but a historic cathedral.