France: Catholics are Under Police Protection for the Feast of the Assumption

Terror Prevention on Feast of the Assumption

Paris (kath.net/ idea.de )) - The Catholic churches in France are under increased police protection for the prevention of terrorist attacks. The event: On August 15, Catholics celebrate "The Assumption" where about 150,000 visitors are expected just in the Parisian cathedral of Notre Dame alone.

The Catholic Bishops Conference recommends that churchgoers be particularly vigilant and to leave no bags unattended during the Mass. On the same day the Catholic churches will also ring their bells at 12 noon in solidarity with the persecuted Christians of the Middle East. Already in April the French police intensified the protective measures for 178 churches, after a terrorist attack in the Paris suburb of Villejuif had been frustrated. In January, the security level for Catholic and Protestant churches and synagogues and mosques had been increased as a result of attacks on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket. Of the 65.8 million inhabitants of France approximately 64.3 percent are Catholics, about 4.3 percent are Muslims, about 1.9 percent are Protestants, about one per cent Buddhist and 0.6 percent Jewish. The rest are mostly without a confession. Link to kath.net... Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMDG