Father Jacques “is blessed, now”. It was said by Pope Francis this morning to the Bishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, at the end of the Mass officiated at St Marta to commemorate the priest murdered while he was officiating Mass in the little Church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray by two young men, shouting about Allah. The Bishop – who met a group of journalist just after Mass – had taken a photo of father Jacques to Rome, hoping to have it signed by the Pope so he could it bring it back as a memento to the three nuns, who on that tragic morning witnessed the murder of the priest and could not come on a pilgrimage to Rome with the diocese. “I showed the photo to the Pope – Bishop Lebrun tells – and I wanted to ask the Pope to sign it so I could take it to the nuns, but instead he told me at once: ‘We’ll put it on the altar’ and that struck me. Then, a detail: at the end of Mass, after greeting everyone, he was signing the photo and told me: ‘You can put this photo in the Church, because he is blessed now and, if someone tells you are have no rights to do so, tell him that the Pope told you so’”. So, it’s clear – the Bishop of Lebrun said about this, without any doubt – that the diocese will open a process of beatification for father Jacques Hamel. Meanwhile, in the little graveyard of the diocese’s priests, where father Jacques lies, many people go on a pilgrimage to his grave and pray there. In this morning’s sermon, the Pope said that “killing in the name of God is satanic!”. As to the risk that these words may be understood as expressly referred to Islam, the Bishop of Rouen immediately explained: “I think the murderers accepted the influence of the devil, of Satan. The murderers. That’s all. This morning, the Pope said that father Jacques was lucid enough” to give the murderer a name by saying “Go away, Satan!”. “When he uttered these words – mgr. Lebrun then commented – he had already been stabbed, he was on the ground already. His sister made me see what he actually meant. Father Jacques could not think that such young men could be the source of such evil. They are not the source of such evil”. The Bishop was asked whether his congregation is scared of going to Church now. “Yes – he answered –, they are scared. Of course, they are. One week ago, I had a meeting with the vicars of the diocese, and all of them told me they are receiving calls from people who are still asking if Mass is officiated, if they can go, if there’s any risk. But there are more people now, and this makes me think a lot about Jesus’s words that John Paul II often repeated: ‘Do not be afraid’. I don’t think Jesus said ‘it’s stupid to be afraid’ or ‘there’s no reason to be afraid’. No, he says: ‘have the courage to be afraid’. And that’s what the Pope taught us this morning about martyrdom and he spoke this word of courage. So, yes, I’d say that psychologically people are scared, but, deeper down in their souls, they are stronger”.