The bishops of England and Wales have expressed their sadness and regret at the torching of part of the historic Galilee church that commemorates Jesus’ Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes.

Bishop Declan Lang, Chairman of the Bishops’ International Affairs department, said: “Attacking, desecrating and damaging any church or house of worship anywhere in the world is an inexcusable act. This is more so in the Holy Land that is home to followers of the three monotheistic traditions.”

He issued his comments in a statement days after arsonists set light to part of the Benedictine-run Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The church, popular with pilgrims to the Holy Land, was built in the 1980s on the site of fourth and fifth-century places of worship. It includes large, restored fifth-century mosaics, among them a well-known image of a basket of bread flanked by two fish commemorating Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000.

Israeli officials have termed the attack “terrorism” but have so far made few arrests.

The blaze injured an elderly monk and a volunteer and destroyed the church's roof while damaging a storage room, church offices and a prayer room. The Israeli Government has said it would help with repairs.

“A verse from a Hebrew prayer denouncing the worship of ‘false gods’ was spray-painted in red on a church wall, and the common consensus seems to be that Jewish zealots were responsible,” Bishop Lang noted.

He urged the Israeli authorities “not only to arrest those responsible for such attacks that take religious bigotry to a new level but also to ensure that such incidents do not continue unchecked.”

Druze, Muslims and Jews joined thousands of Christians in a peace demonstration in Galilee on Sunday following the attack.

Demonstrators carried large wooden crosses and Vatican flags.

"We don't seek revenge, but justice," retired Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem said at a Mass celebrated at the Tabgha church before the demonstration. Auxiliary Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo of Jerusalem concelebrated the Mass.

The Ha'aretz newspaper reported on Monday that ongoing attacks on churches have become a concern for police, but said the perpetrators elude investigators because they exist along the seam of extremist groups and religious theological groups.

Top: Fire damage and above: the church's fifth-century mosaic of the loaves and the fish. Photos: CNS, Berthold Werner/Wiki