French President Francois Hollande
said ahead of an audience with Pope Francis in Rome Wednesday
that "Catholics were subjected to a very hard test by the murder
of Father Jacques Hamel" by an Islamist militant in Rouen. "All
the French showed great sensitivity towards the Catholic faith
and France, above and beyond the various faiths prospering in
the country, expressed all its sympathy for the actions of the
pope," he said. "When a man of religion is killed, the Republic
is profaned, which protects all beliefs. The Republic must
safeguard the freedom of believing or not believing, those who
live in France must be able to practise their religion. The
message of French secularism is not a message that divides but
rather one that unites".
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