PH condemns attack on French church, killing of priest

French police officers stand guard in front of the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray’s city hall, Normandy, France, after an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. AP

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday slammed what it called a “barbaric attack” of terrorists in France, which resulted in the death of a Catholic priest.

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“The Philippine Government and the entire Filipino nation mourns and strongly condemns the barbaric attack by Islamic State militants on Saint-Etienne du Rouvray Parish Church in Normandy, France, that forcibly ended the life of Catholic Priest, Father Jacques Hamel, and terrorized his congregation on July 26,” DFA said in a statement.

“The utter disrespect to a place of worship of these terrorist elements makes the attack even more horrific,” it said, adding that “there is no justification for the horror and brutality perpetrated by these terrorist elements.”

READ: Christians, Muslims mourn murdered french priest

DFA said the act was “a perversion of religion and a product of a warped ideology, which are incompatible with the democratic and humanitarian traditions upon which the Philippines and France are founded.”

It expressed solidarity with France and support for its efforts to combat “nefarious elements that persistently attempt to degrade humanity, ridicule our shared values of democracy, respect for religious beliefs and peaceful co-existence, and the systems of criminality and violence that perpetuate it.”

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