A French court has convicted two homosexual men of burglarizing 29 Catholic churches over three months last summer, stealing sacred vessels, consecrated hosts, and liturgical items from rural parishes across northern France.
Raphaël Hourdeaux, 35, and his partner Tony Paupière, 30, carried out a systematic burglary spree targeting remote village churches where Mass was celebrated only several times a year — in some cases going undetected for days. Priests in the region each oversaw as many as 50 churches, making the rural locations easy targets.
In the village of Burelles, the pair smashed donation boxes, broke through the wooden sacristy door, and stole communion plates, two baptismal vials, and a monstrance. The same day they stole a chalice from a church in Vervins. The following day they broke open the tabernacle in Marle — where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved — and stole another chalice. French media reported the thieves also stole consecrated hosts, raising the possibility that the crimes were motivated not only by financial gain but by deliberate sacrilege.
Police tracked the pair using cell phone geolocation. In October 2025, 30 officers raided their home and found liturgical items displayed as home decorations, with others stashed in plastic bags and cupboards. Some stolen items were sold to a local antique dealer — who was charged and convicted of handling stolen goods — while others were melted down and sold as scrap metal.
The two men were sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended. They will serve their one remaining year under home detention with electronic monitoring.
Many of the affected churches lacked detailed inventories, making it difficult to establish ownership of recovered items. Items that could not be claimed by specific parishes have been distributed among local church communities by diocesan leadership.