THE leader of Ireland's Catholics has offered "prayerful solidarity" with the Church in France after an elderly priest was forced to kneel at the altar before having his throat cut by radical Islamists.
Fr Jacques Hamel was killed as he said Mass in a church at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in northern France yesterday morning.
The 85-year-old clergyman was beheaded in a horrific execution which was filmed by his killers.
The two men, who said they were from the so-called Islamic State (IS), also took two nuns and two Mass-goers hostage.
One of the Mass-goers was critically ill in hospital on Tuesday evening.
The two killers, one of whom was named as 18-year-old Adel Kermich who had reportedly twice tried to enter Syria, were later shot dead by police.
Archbishop Eamon Martin said he had written to the Archbishop of Rouen to offer condolences and to "express the prayerful solidarity of the Church in Ireland".
The Catholic primate added that it was "profoundly disturbing that people gathered in a church for worship and prayer should be targeted in this way".
Pope Francis condemned the "pain and horror of this absurd violence".
France has been under a state of emergency since 130 people were killed in terror attacks in the capital in November. The latest attack comes just two weeks after 84 people were killed in the Bastille Day massacre in Nice.
Former Ardoyne priest Fr Aidan Troy said the murder of Fr Hamel has left the country feeling "nervous and vulnerable".
The former Holy Cross priest has lived and worked in Paris since leaving the north Belfast parish in 2008.
Describing a country numb with shock, Fr Troy said he would seek guidance from his diocese on what precautions to take.
"We have been on high alert for a good while and you take the normal precautions you can,” he said. “We don’t want to raise the fears of everybody."
Fr Troy said those impacted by the attack "deserve our prayers".
