PARIS (AsiaNews): Thousands Christians were joined by their Muslim brothers and sisters at a gathering held at Saint-Etienne-du Rouvray on July 26 in memory of Father Jacques Hamel, who was murdered while celebrating Mass by two men who proclaimed their act as a victory for the Islamic State.
 
The tribute to the 85-year-old priest on the first anniversary of his death began at 9.00am with a Mass broadcast on national television celebrated by Archbishop Dominique Lebrun, from Rouen, in the very church where Father Hamel had spilled his blood.

BEIRUT (AsiaNews): The World Maronite Youth Day kicked off in Lebanon on July 13 to offer young Maronites born outside the country an immersion experience in an Antiochian-Syriac cultural and human environment out of which the culture of their rite grew.
 
Organised by the Patriarchate Youth Pastoral Office along the model of World Youth Day, the 10-day international gathering of young Maronite Catholics has attracted some 450 overseas enrollments from across the five continents.
 

PARIS (AsiaNews): A group of around 60 Muslim imams came together in Paris on July 10 at the Champs-Elysées where a policeman, Xavier Jugelé, was killed in April this year, before setting out on a Muslim March Against Terror which included stops in European cities that have been the victims of terrorism.
 
They boarded a bus bound for Berlin and then moved onto Brussels, where they were welcomed by representatives of the Belgium government.