MUSLIMS have attended Catholic Masses in churches and cathedrals across France in a gesture of solidarity after the brutal killing of an 85-year-old French priest in Normandy.
Reporters said between 100 and 200 Muslims gathered at the towering Gothic cathedral in Rouen, only a few miles from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray where Rev Jacques Hamel was killed by two teenage attackers on Tuesday.
"We're very touched," Archbishop Dominique Lebrun told broadcaster BFMTV.
"It's an important gesture of fraternity. They've told us, and I think they're sincere, that it's not Islam which killed Jacques Hamel."
Outside the church, a group of Muslims were applauded when they unfurled a banner: "Love for all. Hate for none."
Similar interfaith gatherings were repeated elsewhere in France.
At Paris's Notre Dame cathedral, Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Mosque of Paris, said repeatedly that Muslims want to live in peace.
"The situation is serious," he told BFMTV.
"Time has come to come together so as not to be divided."
Archbishop Lebrun praised the Muslims who attended the Mass.
"We are very moved by the presence of our Muslim friends and I believe it is a courageous act that they did by coming to us," he said after the service.
Some of the Muslims present sat in the front row across from the altar.
One of the nuns who was briefly taken hostage at Father Hamel's church when he was killed was among the parishioners.
She joined her fellow Catholics in turning to shake hands or embrace the Muslim churchgoers after the service.
Churchgoer Jacqueline Prevot said the attendance of Muslims was "a magnificent gesture."
"Look at this whole Muslim community that attended Mass," she said.
"I find this very heart-warming. I am confident. I say to myself that this assassination won't be lost, that it will maybe relaunch us better than politics can do. Maybe we will react in a better way."
Many of the Muslims who attended the service in Rouen - including those with the banner - were Ahmadiyya Muslims, a minority sect that differs from mainstream Islam in that it does not regard Muhammad as the final prophet.
