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KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — Polish and French Church leaders attending a Catholic youth meeting in Poland expressed shock over the killing Tuesday of a Catholic priest in France and called for prayers to be the answer to this latest act of terror in Europe.
Two attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest celebrating Mass in a French church, killing him and gravely injuring one of the worshippers present before being shot to death by police. The Islamic State group took responsibility for the attack.
The news of the violence came as a shock to the church leaders and thousands of young people from around the globe gathered in Krakow, in southern Poland, ahead of the arrival of Pope Francis for World Youth Day, a major gathering of Catholics that runs through Sunday. Among them are some 37,000 young people from France.
The spokesman for the French Episcopate, the Rev. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, said in Krakow that the killing of the French priest was a "barbarous and heinous act" but that "violence and hate will not get the upper hand" over good.
"It is not only Catholics that are affected by this barbaric act, it's the whole French community," said Ribadeau Dumas, who is Secretary General of the French Bishops' Conference.
He warned the faithful against giving in to feelings of vengeance and anger and urged Catholics in France to fast on Sunday in homage to the slain priest.
Ribadeau Dumas said the issue of migrants is "sensitive" but insisted that parishes across Europe should respond to Francis' call for migrants to be accepted there, as they have been in France.
Ribadeau Dumas spoke shortly before a Mass attended by thousands of young people began in rain in Krakow's sprawling Blonia green to officially open this week's gathering that Francis is to join on Wednesday.
The archbishop of Krakow, Stanislaw Dziwisz, asked participants to pray for "all the victims of recent terror attacks and especially for the priest who was killed today."
"We bring our fears and disappointments, but also our hopes and yearning, our desire to live in a more human, more fraternal and solidarity word," Dziwisz said in his homily to the pilgrims.
Dziwisz was the closest aide at the Vatican to the late pope from Krakow, St. John Paul II.
Following the attack in France, and previous attacks in Germany, security concerns were raised for the Catholic celebration that runs through Sunday.
The spokesman for Poland's police, Mariusz Ciarka, told The Associated Press that special security measures included border controls, security checks and tens of thousands of police and other security agents on the ground.
Earlier Tuesday, Archbishop Georges Pontier, president of the French bishops conference, said the attack in France "shocked us, it touched us, and revolted us."
Speaking from Krakow, he called on Christians not to be discouraged by such inhumane acts.
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