France church attack: Priest killed in hostage-taking near Rouen

Masafa Marefu

Masafa Marefu

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Jun 30, 2015
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France church attack: Priest killed in hostage-taking near Rouen
A priest has been killed in an attack by two armed men at his church near Rouen in northern France, police and French media have said.

The armed men entered the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass, taking the priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, 84, and four other people hostage.

French TV said shots had been heard after police arrived at the scene. Both hostage-takers are now dead.

Pope Francis decried the "pain and horror of this absurd violence".

French interior ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henri Brandet, said one of the hostages had been critically wounded.

He said the hostage-takers had been "neutralised" after coming out of the church. Police were now searching the church for explosives.

The area has been cordoned off and police have told people to stay away.

'Barbaric'
Mr Brandet said the motive of the attackers was not immediately clear, but the investigation into the incident would be led by anti-terrorism prosecutors.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has expressed his horror at the "barbaric attack".

"The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together," he wrote on Twitter.

President Francois Hollande has arrived in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray to be briefed by police.

The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who was attending a Catholic gathering in Poland, said: "I cry out to God with all men of goodwill. I would invite non-believers to join in the cry.

"The Catholic Church cannot take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men."

A woman who works at a local beauty parlour, Eulalie Garcia, said she had known the priest since her childhood.

"My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him," she said.

"He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself."

There was no immediate word on the identity of the hostage-takers, but France has been on high alert since the Bastille Day attack in Nice earlier this month, when a man ploughed a lorry into celebrating crowds, killing more than 80 people.

The Nice attack was carried out by Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, who was not a known jihadist but so-called Islamic State said he had acted in response to its calls to target civilians in countries that have been attacking it.

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris says the French government has been under huge pressure to prevent further attacks.

Source: BBC News
 
Wazee wa povu karibuni,
Naiona afrika ikianza kupokea wakimbizi toka Europe soon
 
chazy255 said:
Watakoma washenzi hao, wanavuruga nchi za watu wanafikiri watabaki salama na bado.
Click to expand...
duh...
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Ukiyapoke haya madubwana tegemea mauaji ktk nchi yako haya majitu hayasitahili kupewa hifadhi maana yanapenda kuua kama alivyokuwa kiongozi wao
 
Adolfo Nicolás
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the
first or paternal family name is Nicolás and the
second or maternal family name is Pachón.
Adolfo Nicolás Pachón SJ (born 29 April 1936),
is a Spanish priest of the Roman Catholic
Church . He is the thirtieth and current Superior
General of the Society of Jesus , the largest
religious order in the Roman Catholic Church.
He has announced that he has met with Pope
Francis , the world's Jesuit provincials (regional
leaders), and with other Jesuits in positions
under him at the headquarters, and he and
they have begun to plan for an eventual
general congregation that will replace him once
he resigns, as he indicated he would prefer to
do, at age 80. Until the resignation of his
predecessor, Peter Hans Kolvenbach , it was
not the norm for a Jesuit Superior General to
resign; they, like the great majority of the
Popes up until Benedict XVI , generally served
until death. However, the Jesuit constitutions
include provision for a resignation. [1]
Biography
Adolfo Nicolás was born in Villamuriel de
Cerrato , Palencia, and entered the Society of
Jesus , more commonly known as the Jesuits,
in the novitiate of Aranjuez in 1953. [2] He
studied at the University of Alcalá, there
earning his licentiate in philosophy, until 1960,
whence he traveled to Japan to familiarize
himself with Japanese language and culture .
Nicolás entered Sophia University in Tokyo,
where he studied theology , in 1964, and was
later ordained to the priesthood on 17 March
1967.
From 1968 to 1971, he studied at the
Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, from
where he earned a doctorate in theology . Upon
his return to Japan, Nicolás was made
professor of systematic theology at his alma
mater of Sophia University, teaching there for
the next thirty years.
He was Director of the East Asian Pastoral
Institute at the Ateneo de Manila University, in
Quezon City, Philippines, from 1978 to 1984, [3]
and later served as rector of the theologate in
Tokyo from 1991 to 1993, when he was
appointed Provincial of the Jesuit Province of
Japan. Nicolás remained in this post until
1999, and then spent four years doing pastoral
work among poor immigrants in Tokyo.
In 2004 he returned to the Philippines after he
was named President of the Jesuit Conference
of Provincials for Eastern Asia and Oceania . [3]
[4] As Moderator, he was at the service of the
Jesuits of several countries, including
Australia , China , Japan, Korea , Micronesia ,
Myanmar , and East Timor.
In addition to his native Spanish , Nicolás can
speak Catalan , English, Italian, French , and
Japanese . [5]
Superior General of the Society
of Jesus
On the second ballot of the thirty-fifth General
Congregation of the Society of Jesus, Nicolás
was elected as the Order’s thirtieth [6] Superior
General on 19 January 2008, succeeding the
Dutch Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach . His election
was immediately relayed to Pope Benedict XVI,
who confirmed him in the post. Many have
marked the similarities between Nicolás and
former Superior General Pedro Arrupe . Father
Arrupe, like his eventual successor, was a
Spanish missionary in Japan. Nicolás has
described Arrupe, whom he had earlier had as
Provincial Superior, as a "great missionary, a
national hero, a man on fire". [7] He leads a
congregation which currently numbers 18,500
members. [8]
General Curia restructuring
In March 2011, Nicolás forwarded a
communiqué of revisions to the General Curia
restructuring the secretariats, including the
creation of new positions and a commission.
[9]
Beliefs and values
Missionary work
He once stated, "Asia has a lot yet to offer the
Church, to the whole Church, but we haven't
done it yet. Maybe we have not been
courageous enough, or we haven't taken the
risks we should". [10] In an article on Nicolás,
Michael McVeigh said that Nicolás has also
expressed his wariness of missionaries who
are more concerned with teaching and
imposing orthodoxy than in having a cultural
experience with the local people, saying,
"Those who enter into the lives of the people,
they begin to question their own positions very
radically. Because they see genuine humanity
in the simple people, and yet they see that this
genuine humanity is finding a depth of
simplicity, of honesty, of goodness that does
not come from our sources." [10]
In the homily of the Mass celebrated after his
election as Superior General, Nicolás
emphasized service, based on the scriptural
reading for that day, the words of St. Ignatius
of Loyola, and Benedict XVI's teaching on God
is love. He stated: "The more we become as
servants, the more pleased God is." Delving
further on the scriptural passage and after
relating an anecdote of experiences with the
poor in Asia, he related poverty with having
God as the only source of strength, pointing
out that the Jesuit's strength is not in
externals (power, media, etc.) nor in internal
fortitude (research). "The poor only have God
in whom to find strength. For us only God is
our strength."
Nicolas also developed the following ideas: the
message of the Jesuits is "a message of
salvation" and the challenge of discerning the
type of salvation that people today are waiting
for. [11]
Obedience to Rome
After receiving a message from Pope Benedict
asking the Society of Jesus to affirm its
fidelity to the magisterium and the Holy See,
the Congregation presided by Nicolás
responded, "The Society of Jesus was born
within the Church, we live in the Church, we
were approved by the Church and we serve the
Church. This is our vocation...[Unity with the
pope] is the symbol of our union with Christ. It
also is the guarantee that our mission will not
be a 'small mission,' a project just of the
Jesuits, but that our mission is the mission of
the Church." [12]
Liberation theology
In a November 2008 interview with El Periodico ,
Nicolás described liberation theology as a
"courageous and creative response to an
unbearable situation of injustice in Latin
America." [13] These remarks are particularly
controversial since some forms of liberation
theology have been denounced by Pope John
Paul II[14] and by Pope Benedict XVI , when he
was still Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith . [15] However, the
Superior General also added, "As with any
theology, liberation theology needs years to
mature. It's a shame that it has not been
given a vote of confidence and that soon its
wings will be cut before it learns to fly. It
needs more time." [13]
 
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