The killing on July 26 of Fr Jacques Hamel, as he said Mass in Normandy, brings sharply to mind the priests the Church has lost to murder across the centuries – in our own times, to mention but a few, San Salvador’s Blessed Oscar Romero; Solidarity’s Blessed Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko; and the seven Cistercians killed by Islamist extremists in their abbey at Tibhirine in Algeria in 1996. I think of a Slovenian priest mourning the half of his year’s intake at seminary who never saw the 10th anniversary of their ordinations: they were hunted down by Tito’s communists.
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The saints’ answer to terrorism
the killing on july 26 of fr jacques hamel, as he said mass in normandy, brings sharply to mind the priests the church has lost to murder ac...
Sir Mark Allen

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