New revelations by French intelligence show the 2016 murder of Fr Jacques Hamel during Mass in Rouen was minutely planned and guided by French Islamist masterminds living in an area of Syria that was then controlled by the radical Islamic State movement.
Communications intercepted by French intelligence, as revealed by the Catholic weekly La Vie, showed how Islamic State jihadists advised local militants to attack a church rather than a synagogue because “the Jews … tend to use this to manipulate public opinion”.
The evidence rules out the “lone wolf” theory first advanced due to an initial lack of proof of outside influence on the two accused murderers.
Pope Francis has waived the five-year wait to quickly open a cause for the beatification of Fr Hamel, who was 85 years old, as a martyr for the faith. Many Muslim friends have volunteered to testify on his behalf.
“Just take a knife, go into a church, commit a slaughter, even if you only cut off two or three heads,” one of the Syria-based Islamists said over the encrypted social media service Telegram when one plotter asked what to do.
“Do something crazy that will resonate in their hearts. Hit public opinion, make them tremble and make things change. Actually, that’s what attacks like this are for,” the message said on 19 July 2016, a week before the murder.
The two men accused of slitting Fr Hamel’s throat at the altar, 19-year-olds Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, were shot dead at St Etienne du Rouvray church in a Rouen suburb by police alerted by terrified Massgoers.
Rachid Kassim, the main mastermind, is believed to have been killed in 2017 somewhere in the Islamic State-controlled area in Syria and Iraq.
Four accused local accomplices will be tried in Paris early next year. The messages were intercepted by the anti-terrorism unit of the counter-espionage General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI).
Before the attack could be executed, Kassim advised Petitjean to make a video swearing allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be shown after the attack.
“Say you’re going to intensify your attacks, like France,” he said, referring to French bombing of Islamic State areas. “You can send me a short video through Facebook.”
Once he received the video, Kassim told Petitjean it would be posted as soon as the murder was completed. “I can’t wait to see the whole world react to your act,” especially on all-news television stations, he said.
“The Umma(community) of Allah has lions in its ranks … ready to defend their religion.”
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