Ten years after his assassination by Islamist terrorists, France commemorates Father Jacques Hamel

Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray is hosting ceremonies this Sunday marking the tenth anniversary of the murder of Father Jacques Hamel, killed on July 26, 2016 in his church by two terrorists claiming allegiance to the Islamic State.

He was 86 years old and celebrating Mass when two 19-year-old men, Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean, burst into the church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, and stabbed him eighteen times. A decade after the attack, France is remembering Father Jacques Hamel at commemorations attended by members of the government, local elected officials, and François Hollande, President of the Republic at the time.

A mass is being celebrated in the very church where the priest was murdered, presided over by Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, head of the French Bishops' Conference. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is scheduled to speak at 12:25 p.m., before a tribute is paid to the police officers, firefighters, and paramedics who were mobilized that day.

The Seine-Maritime national police paid tribute on social media to the priest and the "exemplary courage" of its officers who "faced horror." "Today, our thoughts are with him, his family, and all those who acted with humanity," they wrote.

Bernard Cazeneuve, Minister of the Interior in 2016, said he remembered "the face of this man of peace, the courage of the BRI and the BAC who stopped the jihadists, the grief that gripped the country, but also the fraternity of our people, beyond beliefs and affiliations, around human and republican values." "They are the cement of the French homeland," he concluded.

The two assailants were killed by police after the attack. During the trial held in March 2022, three members of their circle were convicted of terrorist conspiracy and sentenced to prison terms ranging from eight to thirteen years. A fourth defendant, Rachid Kassim, presumed dead in Iraq in 2017 and tried in absentia, received a life sentence.

Committed to interreligious dialogue, Father Hamel gave his name to a prize created in 2017 by the Federation of Catholic Media, which annually rewards journalistic work dedicated to peace, fraternity and exchanges between religions.