Yesterday, something truly awesome happened in France. Across the country, Muslims gathered for Catholic mass services in churches and cathedrals. Yes, you read that correctly. Muslims met in Catholic churches. They were gathering to demonstrate solidarity following last week’s brutal killing of an elderly priest at the hands of ISIS.
Mohammed Karabila, president of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Mosque, told the BBC:
Today we wanted to show physically, by kissing the family of Jacques Hamel, by kissing His Grace Lebrun in front of everybody, so they know that the two communities are united.
During the same attack in which the preist was kill, several nuns were taken hostage. The Associated Press reported an account of one of the nuns actually hugging the Muslim attendees at her mass.
In Paris, according to the Huffington Post, a group of Muslims held a banner outside of a service with, “Love for all. Hate for none” written across it.
Muslims also attended Mass at Notre Dame and in Nice—the city where an ISIS-loyal terrorist truck driver killed 84 people early in July. Over in Italy, Muslim leaders visited Catholic churches and, says HuffPo, “urged peace and dialogue.”
The HuffPo article includes photos from the weekend. And, honestly, they’re pretty moving.
