The president of the French bishops’ council for Catholic education expressed solidarity with the country’s school community following the beheading of a school teacher in an Islamist terror attack last week.
“In these dark hours, Catholic education feels deeply united in solidarity with the whole school community…and first of all with the teachers,” Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Lille said in a statement. The statement was co-signed by Philippe Delorme, Secretary General of Catholic Education.
“Because it is our raison d’être, we will defend the school (and school community) so that ignorance is fought everywhere,” Archbishop Ulrich said.
“Ignorance builds fear,” he added.
Archbishop Ulrich wrote in response to the beheading of Samuel Paty, who was killed on October 16 in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a suburb of Paris.
Student Abdoullakh Abouyedovich Anzorov reportedly attacked Mr Paty, a history and geography teacher, after he showed his class a cartoon depicting Muhammad.