Muslims attend Mass to express unity after slaying

ROUEN, France — In a gesture of solidarity following the gruesome killing of a French priest, Muslims on Sunday attended Catholic Mass in churches and cathedrals across France and Italy.

A few dozen Muslims gathered at the towering Gothic cathedral in Rouen, near St.-Etienne-du-Rouvray where the 85-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel had his throat slit by two teenage Muslim fanatics on Tuesday.

In Italy, the secretary general of the country’s Islamic Confederation, Abdullah Cozzolino, spoke from the altar in the Treasure of St. Gennaro chapel next to Naples’ Duomo cathedral.

Three imams also attended Mass at the St. Maria Church in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood, donning their traditional dress as they entered the sanctuary and sat down in the front row.

Mohammed ben Mohammed, a member of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, said he called on faithful in his sermon Friday to report anyone who may be intent to damage society.

Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni thanked Italian Muslims for their participation, saying they “are showing their communities the way of courage against fundamentalism.”

[...] the Paris prosecutor’s office said it has requested that a cousin of one of the two 19-year-olds who slit the priest’s throat should be charged with participating in “a terrorist association with the aim of harming others.”

In a statement it said it appeared 30-year-old Frenchman Farid K. “knew very well, if not of the exact place or time, of his cousin’s impending plans for violence.”