A 47-year-old Ukrainian was arrested by the French police after the attacks on three churches in Paris, including the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, dedicated to the Portuguese community, which caused “excitement” and “surprise” among the faithful.
In the early hours of Tuesday, January 17, and Sunday, January 22, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima was the target of two fire attempts near the main door of the building. On the first try, the protective grill prevented a bag of papers from igniting the door, but on the second try, with stronger fuels, the door caught fire.
“The people on Sunday were excited, they were surprised, but no one was speaking directly, they were just interested in helping. The young people wanted to mobilize to help and I maintained the normal activities of the church, with catechism and meetings with parents. The people were serene, no one left because of what happened. It was understood that it was an attack on property and not on people,” reported Nuno Aurélio, rector of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, in statements to the Lusa news agency.
Meanwhile, two other churches were attacked in the same way, those of Saint-Laurent and Saint-Martin-des-Champs, both in the 10th arrondissement, with the attack on Saint-Laurent, which took place this week, leading to to arrest. of the 47-year-old man. The suspect, who has not yet been formally charged, is now in custody and has been transferred to the psychiatric ward of the Paris Prefecture prison.
According to the French media, the motivations for these attacks were religious, since the man is of the Orthodox faith.
Immediately, and after taking steps with the police, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima received the support of the Diocese of Paris, but also the mayor of the 19th arrondissement, where the church is located, and the General Consulate of Paris. . Since the beginning of these attacks, the Church has preferred to remain silent, given the possibility of a repeat of the attacks, in a context where this type of crime is increasingly common in France.
“Here there was no attack on the people, there was an attack on the built heritage, which is always better than attacking the people. What the diocese asked us was to keep quiet so as not to lead others, possibly unbalanced, to have the same idea, since sometimes there is a risk of contagion,” said the Portuguese priest.
The investigation will now continue, but the Sanctuary has already decided to tighten security, adding another surveillance camera at the entrance of the church. The arrest of this man leaves the Portuguese community relieved, but Nuno Aurélio hopes that the suspect will be tried as someone in full use of his abilities.
“We are more relieved, assuming that he was the person who carried out the four attacks. Now the investigation must prove it. Although he was admitted to the psychiatric ward, he is not crazy. He is an organized person and, in our case, he corrected the strategy,” he concluded.
Source: TSF
