<div dir="ltr"><p class="article-standfirst">Faithful urged to take extra measures by the Interior Ministry and the bishops' conference</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>Catholic churches in France have been placed under police
protection and urged to take extra security measures against</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>possible
Islamist <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)">attacks </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>before the feast of the Assumption on Sunday.</b></span></p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>
</b></span><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>“Every religious gathering, whatever its magnitude </b></span>… <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>is vulnerable
today to acts of malevolence, which may extend to terrorism,</b></span>” the
country’s Interior Ministry and bishops’ conference said in a joint
message to Catholic dioceses. The message was published on August 11 in
France’s Catholic daily, La Croix.</p>
<p>“Observing simple rules may allow you, without excessive distrust, to
ensure your security and that of your community, while preserving the
calm [and] sharing openness to others, which is needed for maintaining
your faith and religious practices,” the message said.</p>
<p>It urged Catholics to<span style="background-color:rgb(241,194,50)"><b> look out for unusual actions or demeanours,
such as people wearing coats in hot weather. It also advised people not
to leave bags on seats when receiving Communion at Mass and to keep
watch on visitors who appeared “very nervous” or showed “an unusual
interest in the event or the building”.</b></span></p>
<p>Security was increased at France’s 45,000 Catholic churches, as well
as on Jewish, Muslim and Protestant places of worship, after January
attacks on the offices of a Paris satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, and a
kosher supermarket left 17 dead, including three Islamist assailants.</p>
<p>In April French Prime Minister Manuel Valls<span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b> placed 178 Catholic
churches, including the capital’s Notre Dame cathedral and Sacre Coeur
basilica, under permanent police guard </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>after an ethnic Algerian and two
others were arrested for planning an armed attack on churches at nearby
Villejuif.</b></span></p>
<p>However, since then, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>several Catholic sites</b></span> – including a church in
Tourcoing and a cemetery at Labry – <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>have since been attacked or
desecrated.</b></span></p>
<p>The communications director of the Marian sanctuary of <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>Lourdes</b></span>, David
Torchala, told the Le Figaro daily this week that the shrine, which
attracts six million pilgrims annually, was “open 24 hours daily, seven
days a week with numerous entrances”, and staffers could not “search
everyone with a strange appearance”.</p>
<p>In a website statement the bishops’ conference said 150,000 were
expected to join the traditional Assumption pilgrimage and Mass at Notre
Dame cathedral, which claimed 14.3 million visitors in 2014.</p>
<p>It added that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>church bells would be rung on August 15 in Paris and
other French cities in solidarity with persecuted Christians in the
Middle East.</b></span></p></div>