Pope says murdered French priest a
martyr, on road to sainthood
Send a link to a friend
[September 14, 2016]
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said
on Wednesday the French priest knifed to death at his altar by Islamist
militants in July was a martyr, and indicated that Father Jacques Hamel
was already on the road to sainthood.
Francis spoke at a special Mass for pilgrims from the Rouen area of
France where two attackers stormed into the church in
Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, forced the 85-year-old Hamel to his knees and
slit his throat while they chanted in Arabic.
In his Italian-language sermon, Francis also called on all religions to
declare that "killing in the name of God is Satanic".
Francis used the words martyr or martyrdom 10 times during his homily in
the chapel of the guest house where he lives in the Vatican.
"He (Hamel) accepted his martyrdom there on the altar," the pope said.
"He gave his life for us so as not to deny Jesus ... He is a martyr and
martyrs are beatified."
Beatification is one of the first steps in the complex process that
leads to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/14/images/ads/current/Johnson-Lumber-sda-SHI-2016.png)
"A GOOD HUMBLE MAN"
Usually a miracle is needed for a candidate for sainthood to be
beatified. But that requirement can be waived if there is evidence that
the person died a martyr.
"A good, humble man, a man of brotherhood who always sought to make
peace, was assassinated as if he were a criminal," Francis said. He
ordered that a picture of the murdered priest be placed on the altar
during the Mass.
The Catholic Church posthumously confers sainthood on people considered
so holy during their lives that they are now believed to be with God and
can intercede with him to perform miracles.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/091416pics/news_t33.jpg)
Pope Francis holds up the Host on the altar next to a picture of
Father Jacques Hamel during a mass in his memory at the Vatican,
September 14, 2016. Osservatore Romano/Handout via REUTERS
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
In another indication that Francis believes Hamel is already on the way
to sainthood, the archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, told reporters
afterwards that the pope had told him Hamel should be "venerated," an
honor usually bestowed only after a sainthood procedure begins.
Hamel's killing came as France's political leaders sought ways to defeat
home-grown Islamist violence.
His murder by French citizens was the first Islamist attack on a church
in western Europe and came just 12 days after a Tunisian who had pledged
allegiance to Islamic State drove his truck through a crowd of Bastille
Day revelers in the Riviera city of Nice, killing 84.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/14/images/ads/current/modern_brake_sda_daily_fallfest_2015.png)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Aug/26/images/ads/current/directory_buttons.png) |