The murder of Fr Olivier Maire, beaten to death by a Rwandan refugee he had housed in his abbey, prompted praise for his courage and faith and criticism from politicians trying to score points in the run-up to presidential elections next year.
Fr Maire, French provincial for the Montfortian Missionaries (Company of Mary) order, was killed by Emmanuel Abayisenga, a troubled illegal immigrant arrested after setting fire to Nantes cathedral last year. He had been living in the abbey since being released in May pending trial.
Abayisenga turned himself in on 9 August and an autopsy showed Fr Maire, who was 61, had died quickly of repeated blows to the head.
“This is a day of great emotion, sadness but also pride," said Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, head of the bishops’ conference, at the funeral in Saint Laurent sur Sèvre in western France. “He gave his life for a commitment he had made his own.”
“Fr Olivier Maire died a martyr for charity,” said Bishop Laurent Percerou, whose cathedral was the subject of Abayisenga’s scheduled arson trial. Although not as badly damaged as Notre Dame in Paris, the Nantes cathedral will be closed for repairs until late 2023.
In his weekly audience, Pope Francis expressed his sadness at the murder of Fr Maire, whose priestly career included eight years teaching seminarians in Uganda and six years in Rome at his order’s headquarters.
President Emmanuel Macron praised Fr Maire’s “generosity and love for others” and expressed support for the Montfortians and all French Catholics. Politicians jostling to challenge him next year were less dignified.
“In France, one can be clandestine, set fire to the Nantes cathedral, never be expelled and reoffend by murdering a priest,” said Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally party. "It is the complete bankruptcy of the state and of (Interior Minister) Gerald Darmanin.”
Leaders of the third-ranked Republicans sought to outdo each other in their race for the centre-right party’s nomination.
One said “foreigners in an irregular situation should be expelled without delay” while another saw “an urgent need to regain control of our migration policy”. A third presidential hopeful accused the government of “cowardice (and) blindness.”
The Paris daily Le Monde denounced this blame game, saying the problem was “in the psychiatric follow-up of a clearly seriously unbalanced person”.
“By opening his door unconditionally to a foreigner in an irregular situation … (Fr Maire) lived his Christian convictions and experience to the end,” it said. Rather than a pretext for political debate, his murder was proof of “a sincere religious commitment, which commands admiration”.
|
ReplyReply to allForward |
Loading ...
