“With much sorrow, I learned of the murder of Father Olivier Maire . I extend my condolences to the Montfortian religious community in Saint-laurent-sur-Sèvre, in Vendée, to his family and to all the Catholics of France. I assure you of my spiritual participation and closeness. To all, I give my blessing!”
This was the prayer Pope Francis expressed to French pilgrims at his second August General Audience this morning, Aug. 11, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, grieving the Provincial Superior of the Congregation of the Montfort Missionaries, murdered in the Vendée, in Saint-Laurent-sur- Sèvre, France, on August 9.
Last week, the Pontiff’s weekly Wednesday audience resumed for the first time since the Pope’s traditional July break and July 4 colon surgery. This week, the Holy Father continued his catechesis on Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, and following the catechesis which focused this week on the Mosaic Law.
The Pontiff expressed his sadness for the murder of Father Maire in the Vendée, in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, France, on August 9, 2021. The police found his body after the report of a man who presented himself at the Gendarmerie confessing to the crime.
According to Vatican News, Emmanuel Abayisenga, 40, born in Rwanda, the confessed murderer, is the main suspect in causing the fire in the Cathedral of Nantes, France, in July of 2020.
He was freed under judicial supervision at the beginning of June and was received in the religious community to which the murdered priest belonged, while awaiting his trial, foreseen for 2022.
The Holy Father also expressed his sympathy to the Religious Community of the Montfort Missionaries in Vendée, to the family of the deceased and to all France’s Catholics. “I assure you of my spiritual participation and closeness,” he said, assuring: “My blessing to all.”
The Church in France showed her closeness and solidarity in face of Father Maire’s murder. In a press release, on learning of the tragedy, the French Episcopal Conference (CEF) and the Conference of Men and Women Religious of France (CORREF) expressed “their immense sadness and horror.”
“The author of this murder,” the statement noted, “was staying in Father Olivier Maire’s house and he turned himself in to the police this morning. For the time being, the circumstances of this tragedy are unknown.”
The CEF and the CORREF assured their prayers to “his parents, his family, the Montfort Missionaries, the Community of the Basilica of Saint Louis Mary Grignon de Montfort in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvres and all the great Montfort Religious Family. The Fathers and Brothers of the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (called Montfort Missionaries) “are present in five Continents. They continue their Founder’s plan to evangelize in proximity and care for all,” ends the press release.
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Recalling Sunday’s upcoming Marian Feast, the Pope told faithful: “As we prepare to celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I entrust you and your families to her maternal intercession, that she may guide us on our pilgrim way to the fullness of Christ’s promises.”
“May God bless you!”
Pope Francis did not hold General Audiences during July as popes generally ‘take off’ that month, other than their weekly Sunday Angelus address from the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. However, always in continuity with the past, the Holy Father is resuming his General Audiences in August, and again from inside Paul VI, due to the intense August Roman heat.
In the past, prior to the pandemic, General Audiences were held in St. Peter’s Square, or in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. Since the pandemic, they often were streamed privately in the Pope’s apostolic library, and at times, when in line with health authorities’ recommendations that some gathering was safe, it was held with some faithful in the Courtyard of San Damaso.
