Muslims Go to Catholic Mass Across France to Show Solidarity

19 year-old Adel Kermiche, who recently killed priest Jacques Hamel during mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church will not be buried in line with Islamic principles, an imam told French Daily Le Parisien according to AFP.

“We’re very touched”, the Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, told local station BFM-TV.

The incredible scene saw Muslims sat alongside worshipping Christians on Sunday evening.

A cousin of Abdel-Malik Nabil Petitjean, who was formally identified as one of the two men believed to have killed a French priest in a church last week, has been placed in preventive detention, the Paris prosecutor’s office says.

Outside the church, a group of Muslims were applauded when they unfurled a banner: “Love for all.

Interviewed outside the cathedral in Rouen, attendee Jacqueline Prevot called it “a magnificent gesture”.

Among those who attended the service was a Muslim woman called Hayat, who came with her children and husband. He said that “for me, it is very important to be here today. Another is the behaviour of Muslims who don’t represent us”.

Muslims in several parts of France and Italy attended Catholic masses on Sunday in a gesture of solidarity after the killing of a French priest in Normandy by Islamist militants.

“The situation now is very serious”.

While the investigation continues into how the attack slipped past the security services, the faith communities came together in a rare display of unity.

In Italy, the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of Saint Genarro in Naples hosted the secretary general of the Italian Islamic Confederation Abdullah Cozzolino.

Muslims also attended Catholic masses in Italy, notably at Rome’s Santa Maria di Trastevere church in response to a call by the Sant’Egidio community known for its global mediation efforts.

“Mosques are not a place in which fanatics become radicalized”, said Mohammed ben Mohammed, a member of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy.

“I am not afraid.

And in Lens, around 30 Muslims went to Mass wearing t-shirts with the message: “Terrorism has no religion or identity”.

“These people are tainting our religion and it is awful to know that many people consider all Muslim terrorists”, El Balazi said to the Associated Press. “Religion is one thing.

The Foreign Minister of Italy, Paolo Gentiloni thanked the Muslims for their participation.

Italy, like France, is stepping up supervision of mosques after a wave of attacks in France and Germany.

Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, has said the state should avoid “paternalism” toward Islam, but that “there is an urgent need to help Islam in France to rid itself of those who are undermining it from the inside”. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the elderly Reverend that has created fear among churchgoers in France and the UK.