(Vatican Radio) The so-called Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a shooting in Paris that has killed one policeman, and injured two other officers as well as a bystander on the central boulevard of the Champs-Elysées. France President Francois Hollande linked the attack to terrorism and confirmed that the shooter was also killed. Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: The center of Paris appeared a war zone with special security forces pushing people away from several areas, and rushing to the streets to step up a security. Thursday's shooting came just before the French presidential elections. The shooter, who killed, was known to France’s security sources, French media reported, quoting police. French President Hollande quickly appeared on national television to share more details with a worried nation. "This evening at nine a clock police people in a car were attacked at the Champs-Elysée," said Hollande who w...
(Vatican Radio) The so-called Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a shooting in Paris that has killed one policeman, and injured two other officers as well as a bystander on the central boulevard of the Champs-Elysées. France President Francois Hollande linked the attack to terrorism and confirmed that the shooter was also killed.
Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
The center of Paris appeared a war zone with special security forces pushing people away from several areas, and rushing to the streets to step up a security.
Thursday's shooting came just before the French presidential elections. The shooter, who killed, was known to France’s security sources, French media reported, quoting police.
French President Hollande quickly appeared on national television to share more details with a worried nation. "This evening at nine a clock police people in a car were attacked at the Champs-Elysée," said Hollande who was due to meet top security, defence and intelligence officials on Friday.
"One policeman was killed, two others were injured. A woman who walked there was also injured," he explained.
"The attacker has been neutralized. We are convinced that the path the investigation is on will reveal that this event is of a terrorist nature," Hollande stressed, adding that his thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones.
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The choice of one of the world’s most famous avenues is seen as symbolic. Islamic State state said one of its “fighters” carried out the attack, naming him as “The Belgian”.
Other reports, unconfirmed but quoting sources close to the inquiry, have suggested the suspect may be a French national.
The Paris prosecutor François Molins says the gunman has been identified, but his name will not be revealed until investigators determine whether he had accomplices.
It came as a shock for people in Paris as the city is still recovering of several attack including those in November 2015, which was the bloodiest attack in the Western world in years. In a coordinated string of attacks — bombings and mass shootings — some 130 people were massacred and scores more were injured.
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...