Church, State Unite to Honor Murdered French Priest 10 Years After Terror Attack
The commemoration honored the priest, first responders and reconciliation efforts, while the Father Jacques Hamel Prize continues to promote peace and interfaith dialogue.
- On Sunday, July 26, 2026, French officials, bishops, and family gathered in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray to honor Father Jacques Hamel, marking 10 years since his murder by two Islamist terrorists during Mass.
- Two 19-year-old attackers, Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean, murdered Hamel on July 26, 2016, stabbing him eighteen times during Mass before police shot both men dead.
- Roseline Hamel, the priest's sister, befriended Nassera, the mother of Kermiche, forging a path of resilience; Hamel called their bond "a sign of hope and a true source of comfort."
- President Emmanuel Macron commemorated Hamel in a post declaring, "We will not forget Father Jacques Hamel," while former President Francois Hollande emphasized national unity against division.
- Created in 2017, the Father Jacques Hamel Prize rewards journalism highlighting peace and fraternity, working to "defend the freedom of conscience that the Republic guarantees and protects.
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Church, state unite to honour murdered French priest 10 years after terror attack
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, president of the French bishops’ conference, center, joins politicians, bishops and family in a silent march to the Church of Saint-Étienne July 26, 2026, to mark the 10th anniversary Mass of Father Jacques Hamel in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France. The 85-year-old priest was murdered there by two Islamic terrorists as he was celebrating Mass July 26, 2016. (OSV News photo/Antoine-Marie IZOARD/Catholic Pr…
Catholic Review
Church, state unite to honor murdered French priest 10 years after terror attack
(OSV News) — French top politicians, bishops and family remembered the 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel 10 years after the priest was murdered by two Islamic terrorists as he was celebrating Mass July 26, 2016, in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France. Father Hamel’s stole was placed on a cross in the center of the church. “You would have preferred that it is not here,” Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen told the faithful gathered during Mass, acco…
The ceremony is held this Sunday, July 26, near Rouen, where the priest was murdered while celebrating a mass in 2016 by assailants claiming from ISIS. Sébastien Lecornu and François Hollande are to attend the tribute.
Ten years after the attack that cost Father Jacques Hamel his life, a commemoration ceremony brings together the authorities and the inhabitants in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvay Ten years after his murder by two
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