Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on the attack in the Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray church:
The grief and the shock of Pope Francis at the killing of father Jacques Hamel is the grief and the shock of us all. I convey my solidarity and condolences to the families of the victims, to France and the Catholic Church.
Targeting a man of faith, of any faith, is always a crime against our common humanity because it means targeting the deeper essence of our lives, believers and non-believers alike. The teaching we must all listen to is that of the archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun. The right answer is to keep living together, to stop the hatred.
The terrible, daily news of attacks reinforce our common work against terrorism, within and beyond our borders: the work of all institutions, law enforcement structures, intelligence agencies, religious leaders and communities of any faith, civil society as well as the citizens. It’s unity that will make us prevail.
