Muslims attended Catholic mass in churches around France on Sunday in solidarity and sorrow following the brutal Takfiri murder of a priest, the latest in a string of attacks claimed by ISIL terrorist group.
More than 100 Muslims were among the 2,000 faithful who packed the 11th-century Gothic cathedral of Rouen, near the Normandy town where two Takfiri teenagers slit the throat of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel.
“I thank you in the name of all Christians,” Rouen Archbishop Dominique Lebrun told them. “In this way you are affirming that you reject death and violence in the name of God.”
In the southern city of Nice, where a Takfiri carried out a rampage in a truck on July 14, claiming 84 lives, local imam Otaman Aissaoui led a delegation of Muslims to a Catholic mass.
“Being united is a response to the act of horror and barbarism,” Aissaoui said.
Notre Dame church in southwestern Bordeaux also welcomed a Muslim delegation, led by the city’s top imam, Tareq Oubrou.
“It’s an occasion to show (Muslims) that we do not confuse Islam with Islamism, Muslim with jihadist,” said Reverend Jean Rouet referring to Takfiri ideology.
Pope Francis, on the plane back to Rome after a trip to Poland, said Islam could not be equated with terrorism.
“It’s not true and it’s not correct (to say) Islam is terrorism,” he said, defending his decision not to name Islam when condemning the brutal murder.
“If I have to talk about Islamic violence I have to talk about Christian violence. Every day in the newspapers I see violence in Italy, someone kills his girlfriend, another kills his mother-in-law, and these are baptized Catholics.”
Earlier, the French Muslim council CFCM called on Muslims to show “solidarity and compassion” over the priest’s murder on Tuesday.
Source: AFP
