Vatican condemns slaughter at Paris satirical magazine

Wednesday’s terrorist attack at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been condemned by the Vatican. It described the shootings, which killed 12 and injured seven, as “abominable because it is both an attack against people as well as against freedom of the press”.

Four of the magazine’s cartoonists, including its editor-in-chief, were among those killed, as well as two police officers.

Masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police outside before escaping by car, shouting “we have avenged the  Prophet Muhammad”, according to witnesses. President François Hollande spoke of “a terrorist attack of exceptional barbarity”.

The magazine’s offices were firebombed in 2011 after the publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad. A statement from the French bishops said the “barbarism [of] these murders hurts us all.” Dalil Boubaker, rector of Paris’ Grand Mosque, described the attack as “against democracy and freedom of the press”. Mgr Michel Dubost, responsible for interfaith dialogue at the bishops’ conference, with four imams with whom he was engaged in discussions, met the Pope at his audience on the day of the killings.