#EU #Spain – The parish of Santa Margarita María de Alacoque in Madrid’s Latina district was violently broken into and profaned overnight from 31 July to 1 August 2026.
Unidentified assailants forced entry into the parish complex by attacking the Cáritas facilities. They ripped a gate from its hinges, levered open a door with such force that the supporting wall cracked, and then smashed through six locked doors and several cabinets inside the church and sacristy. The interior of the temple and its adjoining rooms were left thoroughly ransacked.
The intruders forced open the two tabernacles. One of them customarily reserved the Blessed Sacrament. Because ordinary liturgical celebrations had been suspended for the month of August, the parish priest had already removed the consecrated hosts, sparing the Eucharist itself from direct desecration. The second tabernacle contained a relic of the parish’s titular saint, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the 17th-century French Visitandine nun through whom devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus spread widely and who was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. The relic was later discovered discarded on the church floor.
The thieves took the money kept in the offering boxes as well as tools and painting materials recently used to improve the modest facilities. A complete inventory began afterwards to determine whether further items had been stolen.
The parish, a humble complex near the Paseo de Extremadura, focused much of its activity on social outreach through Cáritas. It also ran employment-training courses for local residents seeking work and provided space for Madrid’s small Coptic Orthodox community to hold its services.
The attack formed part of a longer pattern of hostility. In the months leading up to the break-in, the church had endured repeated stone-throwing, kicks against its doors, and loud insults shouted during Mass. Earlier in 2026, the parish bathrooms were found on two separate occasions covered in excrement smeared across walls and ceilings, and another bathroom door was heavily vandalized. Local families had already filed hate-crime complaints at the nearby police station.
No arrests were reported in the immediate aftermath, and the identities of those responsible remained unknown while authorities continued their investigation.
Image: The parish of Santa Margarita María de Alacoque in Madrid.
