As the French president met Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist leaders after Father Jacques Hamel was murdered while conducting morning mass in his church, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said the Pope was being kept up-to-date with developments and that he felt pain and horror at the ‘absurd violence’. After meeting the religious representatives, President Francois Hollande held a security and defence council and appealed for ‘unity’, warning that the war against terrorism will be long. Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, tweeted, ‘Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth & love, and is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities.’ The BBC reported a Nun who escaped from the scene saying, ‘They forced him to his knees. And that's when the tragedy happened. They recorded themselves giving a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror,’ she told BFM television’. See also: https://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Church-attack-Vatican-condemns-barbarous-killing