On the same day that Pope Francis approved the beatification of 127 Catholics killed in Spain in hatred of the faith in the 20th Century, a hashtag calling for Catholic priests to be burned was trending on Twitter in Spain.
Twitter permitted the hashtag #FuegoAlClero, meaning ‘Burn the Clergy’, to trend online in Spain November 24, despite its message of hatred against Catholic priests. Twitter’s current user policy states that the promotion of violence on the basis of religious affiliation is not allowed on its platform.
Prominent tweets that used the hashtag included images of flames on priests’ heads and others that labelled priests as “paedophiles” and “thieves”, ACI Prensa reported November 24.
Users commented on the site that they were surprised that Twitter had not eliminated the messages in accordance with its hateful conduct policy.
Other Twitter users began using the hashtag #YoApoyoAlClero, which means ‘I support the clergy’, in response to the hateful posts.
Hate crimes against Christians and Catholic churches are once again on the rise in Europe. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe published data last week documenting more than 500 hate crimes against Christians in Europe in 2019.
Incidents in Spain included attacks against Catholic priests, arson attacks on Catholic churches, the destruction of images of the Virgin Mary, and the theft of consecrated Eucharistic hosts from tabernacles.