French priest slain by jihadists to be buried

French priest Father Jacques Hamel, who was murdered in an attack by two jihadists on his Catholic church in a Normandy town, will be laid to rest on Tuesday.

According to his diocese, the funeral for the 85-year-old priest will be held at the 11th-century Gothic cathedral of the northern city of Rouen, where Muslims and Christians came together to mourn his death at a mass on Sunday.

He will then be buried in a ceremony attended only by close family members, at a location which has not been revealed.

Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and both were shot dead by police after a tense hostage drama in which a worshipper was left seriously wounded. Three other hostages escaped unharmed.

The attack stunned France’s religious communities, sparking fears of tensions in a country with a population of some five million Muslims.

However, the two communities have largely rallied together, with churches opening their doors to Muslims on Sunday for a moving tribute to Hamel, and against radical Islam.

“It’s not true and it’s not correct (to say) Islam is terrorism,” he said, defending his decision not to name Islam when condemning the brutal murder.

“If I have to talk about Islamic violence I have to talk about Christian violence. Every day in the newspapers I see violence in Italy, someone kills his girlfriend, another kills his mother-in-law, and these are baptised Catholics.”