Rouen – Normandy. A Priest was killed by church hostage-takers by having his throat cut with a knife blade. This has met with strong condemnation from the Vatican. Reuters report that the Vatican said the attack was “even worse for happening in a sacred place.” AFP wrote that the Pope was filled with “pain and horror” over the incident. While initial reports were that the Priest merely had his throat cut, which is bad enough, newly updated reports via i24 News, indicate he may have been beheaded. Early reports suggest that at least two nuns were also held hostage.

Morning church-goers terrorized.

The attack took place on the morning on 26 July, in a church at Saint-Etienne-du –Rouvray, near Rouen in Normandy, France. Within minutes of reports received that hostage-takers were threatening people in the church, the Mayor, and Police arrived on the scene and elite anti-terror units were quickly dispatched. The attack ended when the hostage-takers were killed, but help arrived too late for the priest who was brutally butchered and at least one other hostage is hovering between life and death, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior. According to the spokesman, Mr. Pierre-Henry Brandet, the attackers came out of the church and were quickly taken down by the special unit.

The investigation will be done by Anti-terror unit.

Within two hours or so of the terror event, the French President - Francois Hollande was on his way to the scene of the crime. Whilst it is unknown at this time, what the motive for the attack was, the incident will be investigated by the anti-terror unit of the Public Prosecutors office, Reuters report.

It is too early to know if the attackers were on a Jihad, or were ISIS or even of Muslim origin, but public opinion is greatly influenced by previous such attacks in France, and this most recent one is the fourth reported this year. Many people on social media believe the problem lies with Muslims being given refugee status in Europe, and some blame the Pope in part, for endorsing the influx of refugees from Syria and other Muslim conflict zones.

Already, it is being widely reported that this was an Islamist attack, but so far, the BBC is not committing to this angle of the story, but according to Breitbart News, Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National Party, tweeted that, “The modus operandi makes it clear that we have to fear new attacks by Islamist terrorists.”

The attack took place where there is a very strong Christian culture, as Rouen is the site where Joan of Arc was put to death. Breitbart also reported that local sources have named the murdered priest as “86-year-oldFather Jacques Hamel” who was ordained in 1958.