After Teacher Beheaded, Some in France Turn to Fr. Jacques Hamel

Eyewitnesses said that Anzorov shouted “Allahu akbar” -- Arabic for “God is great” -- as he murdered Paty near the middle school where he taught. The 18-year-old Russian national of Chechen origin was shot dead by police shortly after the murder.

The religious leaders said that they committed themselves, “each according to their tradition, to guide their community, to educate the youth, so that they build a true fraternity with all where dialogue replaces violence.”

In a separate statement Oct. 17, Lebrun -- who was Hamel’s bishop -- extended the condolences of Catholics in Rouen diocese to Paty’s family.

“May the murderer and those who feed fanaticism find light in an authentic encounter with God. God never wants death, not even that of the wicked. He wants humanity to turn away from evil to rediscover its vocation to love,” the bishop said in a statement cosigned with two other Catholic officials.

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Other French bishops joined Lebrun in lamenting Paty’s murder.

Bishop Éric Aumonier of Versailles, the diocese that includes Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, said Oct. 16 that the killing “shakes us, like all citizens attached to the values of freedom, equality and fraternity.”

“We carry him in our prayers, with his family, colleagues, students, and all those who are deeply wounded by this appalling act,” Aumonier said in a joint statement with Versailles auxiliary Bishop Bruno Valentin.

Hamel was killed by supporters of the Islamic State while offering Mass July 26, 2016. The Rouen diocese began a preliminary inquiry into the priest’s sainthood cause the same year, after Pope Francis waived the traditional five-year waiting period.