The breaking of tabernacles and the theft of hosts show an indifference to what is "the most important event in the life of a Christian and in the life of the Church", explained the Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron, Marc Aillet, in a pastoral letter.
He calls on the priests of his diocese to hold penitential ceremonies in their parishes.
Aillet was reacting to a series of thefts and desecrations in Sauveterre-de-Béarn, Soule and other churches in the Basque Country.
In at least four of them, tabernacles (host cupboards) were broken into and the ciboria (vessels) stolen from them.