France: Man says he stole and destroyed bones of Saint Nicholas to prevent ‘idol worship’

Let’s see. What group not only considers relics of saints to be a form of idol worship, but also teaches that the deity commands violence against those whose beliefs are considered to be wrong? French authorities have not released the name of the perpetrator here, and that may also indicate that he is part of a protected class that authorities all over Europe and North America do everything they can to portray in a favorable light. Hmmmm. What could that group be?

“Sacred bones of saint who inspired Santa Claus destroyed in church raid just before Christmas,” by Stacy Liberatore, Daily Mail, November 9, 2026:

Bone fragments attributed to Saint Nicolas were stolen from a church in France, then allegedly burned and crushed.

Priests at Saint Nicolas de Port, one of France’s few sanctuaries to hold a relic of the saint, reported the theft of a reliquary containing a fragment of the saint’s body on November 2.

Police later arrested the suspect, who reportedly admitted acting spontaneously out of a ‘desire to destroy’ the relic because he viewed devotion to the bones as a form of idol worship.

Saint Nicolas, the inspiration behind Santa Claus, lived between 270 and 343 AD and is famous for inheriting money, giving it to the poor, and, in particular, for the story of how he gave three girls bags of gold to save them from a life of prostitution.

Priests with the Saint Nicolas in Lorraine Parish said: ‘The police investigation made it possible to identify and arrest the perpetrator. He admitted having broken the display case, then burned and crushed the relic.

‘Beyond the heritage value of this object, what touches us today is, above all, a profound attack on our history, our faith and the devotion of generations of pilgrims.’…