“The statue was later found on Thursday afternoon in a storage room next to a transformer, cut up into six different parts. Doris Wennerberg, the parish assistant at the Mary Magdalene Catholic Parish, said that she hoped the statue could be put back together and placed back where it had been stolen from….According to criminal and freight inspector at the Stockholm Police Jan-Åke Törnhage, thefts of bronze objects and statues are becoming more and more common across Sweden, with thieves likely looking to melt the statues down in order to sell the metal.”

But this statue wasn’t melted down. It was apparently abandoned, without any pieces missing, since the parish assistant hopes that it could be put back together.

Could the perpetrators have been people who believe that representational art is sinful in itself, and that the veneration of saints is idolatrous, and that “when you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (Qur’an 47:4)? Possibly. And possibly not. But how many incidents of this kind did Sweden experience before it had a large population of such people?

“Church desecrations and robberies have been a major issue in other European countries like France where an estimated three churches are attacked every day on average.”

Same question: France has had haters of the Church for centuries. Why is this happening only now?

“Sweden: Statue of Virgin Mary Stolen and Found Chopped Into Pieces,” by Chris Tomlinson, Breitbart, December 8, 2019: