A priest has allegedly been killed by a man whose life he helped to get back on track after burning down a cathedral in Nantes.
The horrifying incident is said to have taken place in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, a commune in the Vendée in western France.
Reports say Rwandan national Emmanuel Abayisenga, 40, arrived at a police station on Monday morning claiming he had killed Father Olivier Maire, 60.
He was arrested and police travelled to the scene where the discovery of the Catholic priest’s dead body was made, it is said.
The alleged perpetrator is said to be the man who is accused of setting fire to the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral in July last year.
“The priest is 60 years old and had welcomed the suspect into his community after he was released from prison,” said an investigating source.
“He was recently placed under judicial control, and went to live in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre.
“He said is said to have carried out the killing on Monday morning, before handing himself into police.”
Abayisenga, who is a devout Catholic, was staying with the Montfortian community, which is made up of missionaries devoted to Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort.
France Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that he would travel to the scene in a tweet.
He wrote: “All my support for the Catholics of our country after the dramatic assassination of a priest in Vendée. I go there.”
Bruno Retailleau, Vendée senator, paid tribute to the victim, also on social media.
He said: “I want to pay tribute to Father Olivier Maire, superior of the Montfortians murdered by a criminal he was lodging out of charity.
“His death testifies to the kindness of this priest whom I knew well and whose depth of faith I had been able to appreciate.
“His death is a great loss.”
