Church Prompts Mercy in Face of Terror Attacks

On Nov. 2, Kujtim Fejzulai, a 20-year-old dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia, opened fire on civilians in the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria. The attack began at 8 p.m. local time and continued for nine minutes before the gunman was shot and killed by police near St. Rupert’s Church.

Four victims were murdered in the attack with an additional 23 wounded. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the act, though it is unclear whether the organization had any part in its planning or execution.

Following the attack, Austrian EKO Cobra and WEGO police units were immediately deployed to search for any accomplices. There are 21 individuals currently under investigation for collaborating with the perpetrator, with 10 already in custody. Four days after the attack, two mosques in Vienna that the perpetrator frequently attended were closed for the foreseeable future by Austrian officials, because of a lack of government registration and breaking national rules on “religious doctrine and its constitution,” respectively. 

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, said he was “deeply saddened” by the attack, but implored Austrians to respond without contempt. 

“To this blind hatred, hatred can be no answer. Hatred only fuels new hatred,” Archbishop Schönborn said in an interview with ORF, the Austrian public service broadcaster. “This solidarity of good, of togetherness- we need that now.”

France has experienced terrorist attacks in recent weeks as well. On Oct. 16, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine near Paris, middle school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded for showing caricatures of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to his students.

Abdoullakh Abouyedovich Anzorov, the perpetrator and a resident of Normandy, attacked at 5 p.m. local time, and was quickly confronted by police. Anzorov resisted arrest and attempted to harm the police officers with an airsoft gun and knife before being shot and killed.

Soon after this attack on Oct. 29 in Nice, France, three people were fatally stabbed inside of the Notre Dame Basilica by Brahim Aouissaoui, a 21-year-old Tunisian man. 

“I want to express, first and foremost, the nation’s support for the Catholics of France and elsewhere,” Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said after the attack. “We are at their side in order that religion can be freely exercised in our country. People can believe or not believe, all religions can be practised, but today the nation is beside our Catholic compatriots.”

Macron increased the number of soldiers stationed in public places around France from 3,000 to 7,000 following the stabbings.

Bishop André Marceau of Nice expressed his sorrow saying, “My sadness is infinite… may Christ’s spirit of forgiveness prevail in the face of these barbaric acts.” 

Matteo Bruni, Director of the Holy See Press Office, said that Pope Francis “is praying for the victims [of the Nice attack] and their loved ones, for the violence to cease, for people to look at each other again as brothers and sisters and not as enemies, so that the beloved French people, united, can respond to evil with good.”