“Fr. Hamel was killed in order to damage France and the coexistence of faiths”. This is according to Italian Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica, which wrote that the priest’s murder is the latest in a series of Christian martyrs, but it is important to remember that ISIS has also killed thousands of Muslims. Its aim was to strike at the very heart of France and the very concept of coexistence. This is why the Pope has not wanted to give terrorists any theological-political legitimacy and is pursuing dialogue with the major religions.
The violent death of Fr. Jacques Hamel last 26 July in France, is yet another entry in a Christian martyrology that has seen bishops, priests, religious and numerous faithful mowed down in recent years. But alongside them are thousands of Muslims who have also lost their lives. Just as the church in Rouen was profaned by terrorists, so were countless mosques and Islamic celebrations. This is why the Pope has not wanted to grant any theological-political legitimacy to ISIS, stating that the war being fought is not a religious war and working tirelessly to promote dialogue between the great religions. Not only this, Fr. Hamel’s assassination was also a way to strike right the heart of France, its institutions, its fundamental principles, its tradition of secularism nevertheless interpreted as a form of co-existence between different faiths and cultures. These are some of the observations Fr. Giancarlo Pani makes in the latest issue of Italian Jesuit periodical, La Civiltà Cattolica, regarding Fr. Hamel’s assassination.
It should be added, that the string of terrorist attacks on France began, has ignited a debate over the French integration model and its limitations, the issue of religions, possible forms of coexistence, the social situation of the Arab community and the issue of citizenship. President Francois Hollande’s recent visit to the Pope undoubtedly goes in this direction: redefining said relations, a better understanding of the Pope’s words which point to the path of coexistence and respect within Europe too. France’s Christian community came alive after Fr. Hamel’s murder which also stirred imam and Islamic communities into action. Faced with the killing of a priest who put dialogue and coexistence among diverse peoples into practice, they felt the urgent need and duty to speak out against terrorism in a straightforward manner, taking part in common ceremonies in churches, as La Civiltà Cattolica recalls.
On the other side of the coin, is the apparently trivial issue of the burkini ban, which was introduced by a number of French cities along the Côte d'Azur, prohibiting Muslim women from going to swim in full-body swimsuits; the burkini is said to have been a threat to the country’s “security” and “secularism”, a sign of religious extremism. According to many observers, the slightly grotesque decision in fact fuelled an ideological and extremist secularism that reflected an inability to accept basic principles of coexistence and ended up excluding coexistence rather than favouring it, creating unfair barriers and divisions. The French Council of State sought to put an end to this, blocking – in other words suspending, pending a definitive ruling – the burkini ban, on the grounds that it was a violation of fundamental rights, as was evident. “The controversial decree,” the Council of State stated, “constituted a serious and patently illegal violation of fundamental freedoms such as freedom of movement, freedom of conscience and personal freedom.”
“In the West, Fr. Hamel’s death was seen as a turning point in the terrorist strategy concocted by the so-called ‘Caliphate’,” La Civiltà Cattolica says in its analysis. “The jihad has entered the church, a place, which until now, had remained unviolated outside the Middle East. The Church and liturgical action are a symbolic place; a place of worship and of prayer, the heart of Catholicism and the centre of the Christian faith”. “This jihadist form of terror,” says the bi-weekly Jesuit periodical, “had in any case already invaded mosques, killing Muslims gathered for prayer in Syria, Bangladesh and Kuwait… What we have before us is a terrorism that seminates destruction even within Islam itself. In 2015 alone, the number of Muslims who died at the hands of ‘Islamists’ exceeded 23000.” “The priest’s murder,” the periodical goes on to state, “is not to be seen as an ‘assassination in a cathedral’ but as a hard blow to the heart of French secularism, the birthplace of the revolution, of liberté, égalité, fraternité, the envy of enlightenment, the nation that bases its secularism on respect for all religions and all people, whatever their nationality.”
In this context, Francis inaugurated “the Holy Year of Mercy in Bangui, a place where there are Catholics but where the majority of the population is Muslim, he visited the mosque to meet a local imam. On Holy Thursday this year, the Pope washed and kissed the feet of a young Muslim. All of these gestures are ways of reaching out to the Muslim world”. “In this,” the text continues, “Francis’ magisterium is in complete continuity with those of his predecessors, especially John Paul II’s numerous encounters with the Muslim world. How can the ‘Caliphate’ tolerate all this, when it is averse to any form of dialogue and simply wants to spread war and massacres, masked as faith-inspired actions? It is impossible! The statements ISIS has made in its nonsensical magazine “Dabiq” are a clear confirmation of this. Paradoxically, the meaning of these statements sadly coincide with certain criticisms made against Francis’ work.”
So “Fr. Hamel’s death is just the latest killing in a string of murders that have been bloodying the Church. Catholic news agency Fides has documented this “martyrology” of bishops, priests and pastoral workers. Then there is also a large group of individual believers who die as a result of persecution in different parts of the world.” “But in their indiscriminate attacks, the murderers often make no distinctions in terms of faith: were the two young assassins aware that in the lorry rampage in Nice, which took place a few weeks before, claiming the lives of 84 people, around a third of the victims were Muslim?”
At this point, La Civiltà Cattolica says that by adamantly denying that what we have before us is a religious war, Francis “shows courage in not giving terrorists theological-political legitimation, thus avoiding reducing Islam to “Islamist terrorism”. In this way he performs his duty as a religious leader, working to create space for dialogue between all faithful.”
