Catholic priest murdered in western France
August 9, 2021
A 60-year-old Catholic priest was killed in the western French region of Vendee on Monday, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
The suspect had reportedly turned himself into authorities and told police in the nearby town of Mortagne-sur-Sevre that he was responsible for the killing, according to Reuters news agency.
What do we know so far?
The Rwandan suspect behind the murder is believed to have started a fire that damaged a Gothic cathedral in the western city of Nantes last year.
Darmanin said in a tweet he was heading to the town of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sevre, located in the area where the murder took place.
"All my support for the Catholics of our country after the dramatic murder of a priest in the Vendee region," Darmanin said.
The 40-year-old Rwandan national had been previously ordered to leave France in 2019. The asylum seeker was reportedly given shelter by the priest while he was under a formal investigation for the 2020 cathedral fire incident.
The suspect reportedly received psychiatric help from a hospital in July, according to French media. The murder is not being handled as a terrorism case.
French politicians express shock, criticism
Bruno Retailleau, who represents Vendee in the French Senate, expressed shock at the murder.
"Deeply shocked by the terrible murder of a priest who had taken his murderer into his care," Retailleau tweeted. "What was this man still doing in France?"
Retailleau is a member of the right-wing The Republicans party, which is opposed to the government of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally party and Macron's likely top challenger in next year's presidential elections, has slammed the government and Darmanin over the incident.
"In France, you can be an illegal migrant, set fire to a cathedral, not be expelled and then reoffend by murdering a priest," Le Pen tweeted.
Darmanin responded to Le Pen's tweet, and accused her of not knowing the facts of the situation.
Immigration and the role of Islam in French society are expected to be major issues in the 2022 elections.
In 2016, two men claiming to be members of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) attacked a church in the northern French province of Normandy and killed a Catholic priest.
wd/wmr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)