Catholic priest murdered in France by a Rawandan national , says country’s interior minister

'Killed by a man he welcomed back into life after burning down cathedral'

By Edward Era Barbacena

A Rwandan national  suspected of causing a major fire that ravaged the cathedral in the French city of Nantes last year murdered a Catholic priest in western France on Monday, the interior minister and a source close to the investigation said.

"All my support for the Catholics of our country after the dramatic murder of a priest in the Vendée region," French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter, saying he was heading to the scene. 

Murdered Priest Fr. Oliver Maire

The Diocese of Luçon, which comprises the department of Vendée, named the murdered priest as Fr. Olivier Maire, provincial superior of the Montfort Missionaries (the Company of Mary).

A source close to the investigation, who asked not to be named, told the AFP that the suspect had earlier gone to police in the town of Mortagne-sur-Sevre and declared he had killed a priest.

French media said that the 60 year old priest Fr. Oliver Maire had welcomed the 40-year-old suspect, identified by media as Emmanuel Abayisenga, into the community in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre following the fire.

Rawandan national Emmanuel Abayisenga murdered 
F. Oliver Maire, he is also responsible for the burning of
Saint Pierre-et-Saint Paul in Nantes, France in July 2020

He had initially been placed under arrest before being freed under judicial control. France Info reported that the suspect in the murder in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, a commune in the Vendée department, was already under investigation in relation to the fire at Nantes Cathedral in July 2020.

The incident immediately sparked a political row, with Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally, an anti-immigration party, criticizing the authorities for failing to deport the suspect, identified on social media as a man of Rwandan origin.

Earlier Monday, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who accuses the government of being weak on immigration, sought to capitalise on the incident, saying that in France "you can be an illegal migrant, set fire to a cathedral, not be expelled and then reoffend by murdering a priest".

“In France, one can be an illegal immigrant, set fire to the cathedral in Nantes, never be deported, and then reoffend by murdering a priest,” 

-she wrote on Twitter.

Darmanin immediately accused her of "making a polemic without knowing the facts" saying the man could not be expelled from France while he was under judicial control. Darmanin rejected the criticism.

“Rather than expressing her compassion for the Catholics who welcomed this murderer, Ms. Le Pen polemicizes without knowing the facts: this foreigner could not be deported despite his deportation order as long as his judicial control had not been lifted,” 

 - he responded.

Immigration is set to be a major issue when Le Pen challenges centrist President Emmanuel Macron for the presidency next year.

Senator Bruno Retailleau, a conservative who represents the Vendée region, identified the victim as Olivier Maire. He said the local Catholic church had been housing the man.

"Deeply shocked by the terrible murder of a priest who had taken in his murderer into his care," Retailleau said on Twitter.

"What was this man still doing in France?" asked the lawmaker, who is among several Les Républicains members likely to seek that party's nomination for the 2022 presidential election.