{"id":495373,"date":"2026-02-24T02:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T02:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495373\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T02:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T02:44:09","slug":"montreals-st-pauls-catholic-church-goes-up-in-flames-forcing-evacuation-of-148-seniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495373\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal\u2019s St Paul\u2019s Catholic church goes up in flames, forcing evacuation of 148 seniors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Source: Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

A fire completely gutted<\/a> the historic St. Paul\u2019s Catholic Church in Montreal\u2019s Sud-Ouest borough early Monday morning, leaving the local community stunned.<\/p>\n

The blaze, which began around 1:40 a.m., quickly spread to the church\u2019s old rectory, recently converted into a seniors\u2019 residence.<\/p>\n

Authorities evacuated 148 people, including 73 seniors. No injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

The fire also destroyed a local food bank that had operated out of the church since 2013, serving roughly 200 families each week.<\/p>\n

Director Roger Mpemudjir Kilanga said all equipment, including newly purchased commercial refrigerators, was likely lost, forcing him to search for a new location to continue operations.<\/p>\n

\"X<\/p>\n

Marc Nixon@MarcNixon24<\/p>\n

The Historic Saint Paul\u2019s Church Burned to the ground in Montreal this morning. <\/p>\n

6:04 PM \u00b7 Feb 23, 2026 \u00b7 30.9K Views<\/p>\n

209 Replies \u00b7 326 Reposts \u00b7 774 Likes<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Borough mayor V\u00e9ronique Fournier pledged support in finding short-term solutions to maintain food services for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis building is located in the historic heart of C\u00f4te-St-Paul and holds special significance for many of us: members of our community have been married there and have celebrated important life events,\u201d Fournier wrote in a post on social media.<\/p>\n

Built between 1910 and 1911 by architect Joseph-Arthur Godin, Saint-Paul Church is part of the heritage site C\u00f4te-Saint-Paul, recognized for its architectural and historical significance. Although the church had been vacant for years, it remained a meaningful landmark for many local residents.<\/p>\n

Fire investigators are still on site as authorities work to determine the cause of the blaze.<\/p>\n

The loss of Saint-Paul comes amid a troubling national trend highlighted by Juno News\u2019 exclusive arson map: over 120 Christian churches<\/a> across Canada have been vandalized, burned, or desecrated in recent years.<\/p>\n

The wave of attacks, which escalated after the legacy media spread unsubstantiated claims of unmarked graves at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C., has yet to prompt a national inquiry. <\/p>\n

Share<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: Wikimedia Commons A fire completely gutted the historic St. Paul\u2019s Catholic Church in Montreal\u2019s Sud-Ouest borough early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-495373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}