A man was taken into police custody after a major fire broke out on Monday at the historic Church of the Immaculate Conception in the northern French town of Saint-Omer, causing its bell tower to collapse. Source: Catholic Review.
According to the newspaper Le Monde, the prosecutor’s office said that a suspect had been taken into custody that same evening and that the man, who was born in 1985, has been known to authorities “for similar acts” in the past.
Government ministers including Culture Minister Rachida Dati expressed “solidarity” with the residents of Saint-Omer.
During the fire, the parish priest, Fr Sébastien Roussel, entered the burning church to evacuate the consecrated hosts.
“I wanted to evacuate the Blessed Sacrament,” he reported after successfully doing so and coming out unharmed.
Bishop Olivier Leborgne of Arras, Boulogne and Saint-Omer said on Monday it was “with shock that I learned early this morning that the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer was suffering a particularly violent and destructive fire”.
“I want to tell all those who attended this church, regularly or for the big moments of life, of my closeness in prayer,” he wrote.
The bishop yesterday met the local community and celebrated a morning Mass in the town’s Basilica of Our Lady of Miracles.
“I entrust you all – residents of Saint-Omer, firefighters and professionals working to ensure the safety of people and places – to the Virgin Mary, to whom this church is dedicated,” he said of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which originated in the mid-19th century and was only restored and reopened in 2018.
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Bell tower collapses at church in northern France where first bishop of Baltimore studied (Catholic Review)
