EUROPE/ITALY - The testimony of Roseline Hamel at the ‘Jubilee of the world of Communication’: “forgiveness is a force for peace and hope”

by Pascale Rizk

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - In a “world that is falling apart everywhere”, where many end up surrendering to evil even “for convenience”, there are also men and women of faith and good will who live and bear witness to “good and love above all”. And it is always worth being amazed by their stories, and telling them.

These are words of humanity and hope that Roseline Hamel - sister of Father Jacques Hamel, the priest slaughtered in Normandy on 26 July 2016 by two young men addicted to Islamist propaganda - spoke on Saturday afternoon (January 25) in the Roman church of San Luigi dei Francesi during her speech at the event organised on the initiative of the "Fédération des Médias Catholiques" as part of the “Jubilee of Communication” celebrated in Rome over the weekend.

Roseline Hamel, 84, who came to the meeting in a wheelchair, has herself become a tireless witness to what has happened in her life since the death of her brother, murdered in front of the altar of their church in the parish of Saint Etienne du Rouvray, near Rouen. With a radiant face and a calm, firm voice, Roseline left her house in Armentières for the third time this January to commemorate her brother, killed by those who mocked the name of God with their expressions of hatred.

A few weeks after her brother's death, Roseline had to undergo emergency surgery: she had become ill from the terrible pain. Then she set out to find the person who - she thought - could feel a similar pain to her own: the mother of Adel Kermiche, one of the two murderers. From that moment on, a story of healing and friendship began between the two women that has overcome all distances and differences. A story that Roseline tells whenever possible. "Father Jacques," said the woman in a white blouse and scarf in the Roman church of San Luigi dei Francesi, "had begun interreligious dialogue with the Muslim community six years before his murder. To understand each other, we must know each other, and to know each other, we must talk to each other, despite the differences that can intimidate us. Only by facing them and their differences will we not be afraid of others. By sharing our joys and sorrows, not to unite us, but above all to understand each other. We are all human."

"This is how Roseline Hamel was able to rediscover humanity in the overwhelming, powerful event of her brother's murder during Mass," stressed Samuel Lieven, editor of the weekly newspaper 'le Pélerin', who was also present at the meeting. Roseline had also been in Rome last year to meet Pope Francis for the third time. She had given him a homily by Father Jacques on the occasion of the awarding of the Father Jacques Hamel Prize for Interreligious Dialogue, established in 2017, which is awarded for "edifying testimonies that never ignore the incredible suffering, and the pain, and the desire that asks for grace to overcome them”, explained Philippine de Saint-Pierre, general director of the Catholic television station KTO. Philippe Lansac, general director of the Catholic radio station RCF, also spoke at the meeting, which was dedicated to the theme "How can Catholic media be builders of peace?" In her speech, Roseline Hamel recalled the urgency of "provoking" dialogue "by moving towards the unknown, towards the different," recognizing that "we are all children of God, and therefore we are all brothers, children of the same Father."

The memory of Father Jacques Hamel, concluded Sister Roseline, , is also "the memory of his life lived in faith in Christ until the end, and testifies that in France and throughout the world, forgiveness is a force of peace and hope".

After an announcement on Good Friday, April 13, 2017, the diocesan phase of the beatification process was officially opened on May 20, 2017 and concluded last March 9 with the final session in the church of Notre Dame de l'Annonciation in the Archdiocese of Rouen (see Fides 12/03/2019). During this phase, 66 hearings were held, during which the five eyewitnesses to the murder were heard, 51 other witnesses were summoned (including family members of Father Hamel, friends, parishioners, priests ...) and 5 ex officio witnesses. The main questions concerned the murder, the circumstances of the martyrdom under investigation, the life of Father Hamel and how he lived the Christian virtues, as well as his reputation for holiness and the events of grace attributed to his intercession. (Agenzia Fides, 26/1/2025)

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