On July 26, Pope Francis remembered the first anniversary of the murder of French Father Jacques Hamel. A year since the 80-year-old priest was murdered by two militant Islamists on the morning of July 26, 2016, while celebrating Mass in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in the diocese of Rouen, Normandy.
The Pontiff’s Instagram account published a photo of Pope Francis taken during the Mass celebrated in the presence of a group of pilgrims of the Diocese of Rouen last September 14, in memory of the elderly priest. The post is accompanied by the following message in French, English and Portuguese: “Today we remember Father Hamel who, as so many other martyrs of our time, spent his life at the service of others.”
Father Hamel’s Cause of Beatification opened at the diocesan level last April 13. Pope Francis in fact waived the mandatory five-year waiting period for the opening of such causes.
