(UnitedVoice.com) – A group of fundamentalist Catholics have resided in France’s Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier village since 1946. For the last five years, they’ve been locked in a battle with environmentalists over their plan to build a pilgrim center. Recently, things came to a head, and a nun resorted to violence.
On Saturday, October 14, a nun tackled an environmental activist who was trying to stop the construction of the center and a basilica that could hold 3,500 worshippers. Protesters with the Les Amis de la Bourges, an eco-group whose name translates to Friends of the Village, were at the site to protest. Nuns with the Missionary Family of Notre-Dame were on site. They formed a human chain to try to stop the protestors.
The nun tackled one of the protestors after the group picked up construction materials and started running around. After she tackled the man, she walked back over to her previous position and began standing watch peacefully again.
According to reports, construction on the religious center originally began in 2018. Environmentalists protested the use of the site, claiming there were rare plants in the area. In 2022, after more environmental studies were done, construction started again. Sylvain Hérenguel, the co-president of the Association for the Future of the Valley, told the press that he was attacked multiple times by the group. He claimed that the issue with the protest that day was that “religious people decided to resort to violence.”
Hérenguel said the site where the center is being erected is home to jackfruit. He claimed the church doesn’t “have authorization to destroy the habitats of protected species.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the environmental activists said they want the construction suspended until the church receives all of the environmental authorizations. They pointed out that the village is only 400 people, but the Notre Dame Missionary Family wants to build a massive complex that seats thousands. The group called it “an arrogant project for a religious community.”
The church didn’t comment.
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