Muslims attend Masses and Vigils in show of solidarity
British, French and Italian Muslims attended Masses and prayer vigils in churches in several countries across Europe on Sunday to express their solidarity with Christians after the murder of Fr Jacques Hamel in the French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on July 26.
At Westminster Cathedral in London, rabbis, imams and priests gathered for an interfaith prayer vigil.
In Italy, churches welcomed Muslims to Sunday Mass. Three imams attended a service in Rome at the Church of St Maria in Trastevere.
French TV news broadcast scenes of interfaith solidarity from all around France, with Muslim women in headscarves and Jewish men in skull caps crowding the front rows of Catholic cathedrals in Lille, Calais and the Basilica of St Denis outside Paris.
More than 100 Muslims also joined 350 Catholics at a vigil in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's second church on Saturday night.
Mohammed Karabila, President of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Mosque, told the BBC in Rouen on Sunday, “For me, it is very important to be here today. It should be shown physically, because until now the Muslim community did a lot of things that were not seen."
"Today we wanted to show physically, by kissing the family of Jacques Hamel, by kissing His Grace Lebrun in front of everybody, so they know that the two communities are united."
Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, told the French news channel BFMTV that he felt very touched.
"It's an important gesture of fraternity. They've told us and I think they're sincere, that it's not Islam which killed Jacques Hamel."
Speaking on the flight back from World Youth Day in Krakow, Pope Francis said Islam should never be equated with terrorism. He said: "I do not like to speak of Islamic violence because every day when I look through the papers, I see violence here in Italy. And they are baptised Catholics. There are violent Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, I also have to speak of Catholic violence.”
Source: Jo Siedlecka, editor Independent Catholic News - August 02, 2016.
Mission Intention for October
That World Mission Day may renew within all Christian communities the joy of the Gospel and the
responsibility to announce it.
Read more from The Far East, October 2016