Pope Francis Speaks for the Victims of Rouen
Pope Francis has been speaking out on the "pain and horror" stemming from the murder of an 84-year-old priest in France at the hands of Islamic State-linked supporters, as Catholic analysts noted that Europe's Christians are waking up to a "new era" of violence.
The priest, Father Jacques Hamel at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, was killed during morning mass on Tuesday by two assailants, who took a total of five people hostage. The attackers slit the priest's throat with a knife and wounded three others, before police shot them dead.
Francis immediately said that he joins in "prayer for the suffering of family members, of the pain of the parish and the diocese of Rouen." He also said that he "invokes God, the merciful Father, that he welcome the Abott Jacque Hamel into the peace of his light and that he bring comfort to the wounded."
