Attack has sown death in a place of love and consolation
A knife-wielding attacker killed three people and injured several others yesterday morning around 9am in Nice, before police shot and injured the suspect, now in hospital under guard.
French anti-terrorist police are leading the investigation. An elderly parishioner who had come to pray at the basilica of Notre-Dame was “virtually beheaded” in the knife attack, the BBC reported.
Pope Francis was informed of the deadly knife attacks and offered prayers of suffrage for the victims and their families. He condemned the violence and expressed his prayerful closeness to the entire Christian community of the city.
Holy See Press Office Director, Matteo Bruni, issued a statement shortly after 1pm Rome Time on Thursday, calling the present “a moment of pain, and a time of confusion.”
Bruni’s statement goes on to say: “[Thursday’s] attack has sown death in a place of love and consolation.”
Pope Francis “prays for the victims and for their dear ones, for an end to violence, that all return to regard one another as brothers and sisters, not as enemies: in order that the beloved French people might respond to evil with good, united.” Later on Thursday, Pope Francis sent a telegram expressing his condolences to the Bishop of Nice, in which he condemned the attack in “the strongest possible terms” and renewed his assurances of spiritual closeness to all who mourn.
Earlier in the day, Mayor Christian Estrosi of Nice visited the scene and tweeted: “[O]ur country can no longer be satisfied with the laws … destroy Islamo-fascism.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has decried the terrorist attack on the church in Nice.
President Macron went to Nice to visit the scene of what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack”.
Speaking to reporters, he said protection would be stepped up at schools and places of worship, including churches.
“I would like to express the support of France towards the Catholic community,” he said.
The French Council for the Muslim Faith also condemned the attacks. A representative released a statement calling on Muslims in France to cancel festivities for Mawlid, the celebration of the birth of the Muhammad, the founder of Islam: “As a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their loved ones,” the statement calls on “all Muslims in France to cancel all the celebrations of the holiday of Mawlid.”
Nice was the scene of another terror attack in 2016 when a lorry was driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 86 people.
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