The archbishop of Chieti-Vasto told
ANSA on Friday that a call on Muslims to join Christians in
church this Sunday in condemnation of Islamist terrorism after
extremists murdered a Catholic priest during Mass last Tuesday
near Rouen in France is "a very beautiful sign, one we were
waiting for".
"It means believers of all religions, and especially
Christians and Muslims, condemn violence in the name of God and
consider it false and contrary to all religious inspiration,"
said Monsignor Bruno Forte.
Italy's Islamic Religious Community (COREIS) said earlier
in the day it would send delegates to churches and parishes
across Italy on Sunday, July 31, "to bear witness to spiritual
brotherhood".
"We feel it is essential at this time with this greeting
from the Muslims of Italy to give a concrete signal of profound
respect for the sacredness of the rites, the ministers and the
places of worship of the Christian faith," COREIS said in a
statement.
"This enormous gesture puts offside those who would divide,
those who want a strategy of terror," CEI spokesperson, Father
Ivan Maffeis, told ANSA.
Italy's Muslim community heeded the call of the French
Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies (IHEI), which works
closely with the French interior ministry and will also send
delegates to French churches this Sunday.
COREIS delegates will be at Mass in churches and parishes
in Agrigento, Brescia, Brindisi, Fermo, Genoa, Milan, Novara,
Piacenza, Rome, Siena, Sondrio, Verona, Vicenza and Ventimiglia.
The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group has
claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack in which two
knife-wielding French nationals entered a church in the town of
Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen during Mass, took
84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel hostage along with four other
people, and slit the priest's throat before being killed by
security forces.
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