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PARIS, Aug. 9 (Reuters) – A Rwandan immigrant entered a police station in western France on Monday and said he had murdered a Catholic priest, a source close to the investigation said.
Police found the priest’s body shortly after in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, Vendée.
The source said the suspect was involved in an arson attack on Nantes Cathedral in 2020.
Home Secretary Gerald Darmanin said he would visit the region.
“All my support for the Catholics of our country after the dramatic murder of a priest in Vendée. I’m heading there,” Darmanin wrote on Twitter.
Senator Bruno Retailleau, who represents the Vendée, identified the victim as Olivier Maire. He said the local Catholic Church hosted the Rwandan man.
“Deeply shocked by the terrible murder of a priest who had taken charge of his murderer,” Retailleau said on Twitter.
“What was this man still doing in France?” asked the senator.
French immigration authorities ordered the Rwandan national to leave France in 2019, but he stayed.
It was the subject of an official investigation into a fire in July 2020 that engulfed the interior of the 15th century cathedral in Nantes, destroying a large organ, stained glass windows and a painting.
At the time of the fire, he was volunteering in the local diocese. In an act of compassion, the priest hosted the 40-year-old Rwandan while he was under investigation.
“I am overwhelmed,” said a parishioner who gave us her name Bernadette. “Just yesterday, I saw the parish priest give an organ concert at the church of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre.
Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Richard Lough; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Angus MacSwan and Nick Macfie
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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