France’s new Prime Minister Jean Castex has marked the fourth anniversary of the murder of Father Jacques Hamel, whose throat was slit by jihadists in 2016 as he celebrated Mass in his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.
The life of Father Jacques Hamel, slain in his church by two jihadists of the Islamic State, continues to speak and to inspire, said Archbishop Dominique Lebrun Wednesday in a Mass commemorating the first anniversary of the priest’s death.
The President of France Emmanuel Macron will attend a Mass Wednesday morning in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Normandy) in tribute to Father Jacques Hamel, assassinated a year ago by two Islamic State jihadists.
Pope Francis has declared slain French priest Father Jacques Hamel to be a Christian “martyr,” a qualification that automatically makes the person a saint in the Church’s eyes, while also condemning murder “in God’s name” to be the work of Satan.
French Catholic officials have announced that the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, where two Islamic terrorists slit the throat of Fr. Jacques Hamel in July, will reopen in October.
Just before having his throat slit by two Islamic terrorists in northern France last week, Father Jacques Hamel told one of his assailants, “Be gone, Satan!”, according to the priest’s bishop.