Attackers Kill Catholic Priest During Mass in Hostage Siege on French Church
The Vatican has condemned the 'barbarous killing' of a French priest celebrating mass Tuesday morning at a village church in Normandy.
Pope Francis expressed his "pain and horror" at the terrorist attack, which left village priest Father Jacques Hamel dead and three others injured during a hostage siege at the church.
The attack was carried out in the small Normandy town of Sainte-Etienne-du-Rouvay in northern France by two knife-wielding assailants who interrupted mass at around 9:43 a.m., French authorities said.
The attackers took five people hostage and cried 'Allah Akbar,' French media reported.
French news outlets reported that the priest had his throat slit. Another parishioner, whose throat was also slashed, "remains between life and death."
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According to the Ministry of Interior, two rapid response units of France's anti-terror brigade responded to the church within 20 minutes. The two alleged terrorists were killed by police, according to French TV channel BFM.
The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, said in a statement that Father Hamel was ordained in 1958 and was the auxiliary priest in the village for 20 years.
He said Hamel was "assassinated" and urged everyone to rally against violence.
"I cry out to God with all men of good will," he wrote.
At the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio, "We are particularly shocked because this horrible violence took place in a Church, in which God's love is announced, with the barbarous killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful."
The French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were in transit to the village this afternoon.
"Terribly shocked by the cowardly attack," Hollande said outside the church.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted: "Horror in the face of this barbarous attack at a church in the Seine Maritime. All France and all Catholics are injured."
