The Rwandan who set fire to Nantes Cathedral a year ago has confessed to the murder.
Newsroom (August 9, 2021 5:15 PM Gaudium Press) Father Olivier Maire, provincial superior of the Montfortine Missionaries, was found lifeless on Monday morning, August 9, inside his congregation, located in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (Vendée).
A 40-year-old man, born in Rwanda, presented himself mid-morning (local time) to the police in Mortagne-sur-Sèvre, saying that he had killed an ecclesiastic. This would be the man responsible for the fire at Nantes Cathedral in July 2020.
In a tweet, Senator Bruno Retailleau, former president of the General Council of the Vendée, paid tribute to the victim:
“I want to pay tribute to Father Olivier Maire, superior of the Montfortines, murdered by a criminal whom he hosted out of charity. His death testifies to the goodness of this priest whom I knew well and whose depth of faith I appreciated. His death is a great loss.”
And then added that the man who surrendered “was the one without documents who set fire to the cathedral of Nantes. But what was this individual still doing in France?”
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Twitter that he would be going there after this “dramatic murder.””
“All my support to the Catholics of our country after the tragic murder of a priest in Vendée. I am going there.”
The Bishop of Luçon expressed his “deep pain and sadness after the announcement of the murder of Father Olivier Maire.”
Father Olivier Maire was part of the Montfortine family, dedicated to Mary and the service of the poor, founded in the 17th century by St. Louis-Mary Grignion de Montfort, an ardent apostolic missionary. He had taken in the criminal a few months ago.
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
