Father Hamel, ten years later: Dominican Jean-François Bour testifies to a "seed of forgiveness"

As the tenth anniversary of the martyrdom of Father Jacques Hamel approaches, Dominican Jean-François Bour shares with Vatican News a testimony that goes beyond remembrance to offer a path.

The fact

We opened this week the thread of the tenth anniversary of Father Jacques Hamel, assassinated on July 26, 2016, while celebrating Mass at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. As the official commemoration of Saturday, July 26, approaches, Vatican News published on July 24, 2026, in its Portuguese and English editions, a long testimony from Father Jean-François Bour, a French Dominican involved for ten years in post-attack Christian-Islamic dialogue. The formula he gives to the drama sums up the hope he draws from it: "From his death, a seed of forgiveness."

Our reading

The liturgical qualification of Father Hamel as a martyr remains pending the Roman decision on the beatification cause opened by Pope Francis in April 2017, without respecting the usual canonical delay of five years after the death. This unusual dispensation had doctrinal anticipation value. It already placed the Norman priest in the line of martyrs of the odium fidei, killed out of hatred for the faith. Father Bour's testimony reinforces this reading: ten years later, what remains is not measured only in vigilance cells or Vigipirate devices, but in inner conversions, renewed dialogues, granted pardons. Father Hamel's blood has not been shed in vain.

To ponder

Give thanks for the spiritual fruits that the memory of Father Hamel produces ten years later. Pray for the Roman conclusion of his cause. Never separate the memory of the martyr from the concrete commitment to the protection of persecuted Christians, in France and elsewhere.