Catholic Priest Stabbed Multiple Times, Nun Injured in Knife Attack at French Church

A gendarmerie tape in France in a file photo. Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images

A Catholic priest was stabbed multiple times on Sunday morning in a church in Nice, France, while a nun was also injured during the knife attack, officials have said.

The attack came as France began voting in a presidential run-off election race between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and National Rally candidate Marine Le Pen.

French politician Eric Ciotti, who represents the 1st constituency of Alpes-Maritimes in the National Assembly, said on Twitter that the attack took place in Saint-Pierre-d'Arène church.

He identified the victims as Father Christophe and Sister Marie-Claude.

“Father Christophe was stabbed several times in the Saint Pierre d'Arène church in Nice,” Ciotti wrote, adding that a “sister was injured,” and that he was “able to speak for a few moments with the father before his evacuation to Nice hospital.”

“Extraordinary courage of Sister Marie-Claude who intervened while the attacker continued to stab Father Christophe. She snatched the knife from him while being injured in the forearm,” he wrote in a follow-up post on Twitter.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter on Sunday that the priest’s life was not in danger and confirmed that police had arrested the attacker.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, in an update on Sunday, said that the suspect was a mentally unstable French national who was born in Fréjus, a port town on the Côte d'Azur in southeastern France. He had no criminal record and was known to have purchased a knife several days earlier, Estrosi said.

Reuters reported that French cable channel BFM TV quoted police as saying the suspect was a 31-year-old French man and there was no suspicion of terror as being the motive.

According to local reports, which identified the victim as father Krzysztof Rudzinski, the incident took place shortly before a mass at 10 a.m.

The attacker reportedly entered the Saint-Pierre-d'Arène church carrying a 10-centimeter knife and stabbed Father Rudzinski, who is of Polish origin, several times before Sister Marie-Claude intervened and attempted to retrieve the knife from the attacker.

Before attacking the priest, the attacker shouted, “We have to kill Macron,” according to the French outlet Le Figaro.

Firefighters transported Rudzinski to Hospital Pasteur, the university hospital in Nice, while Sister Marie-Claude sustained injuries to her hand.

Meanwhile, police were called to the incident and detained the attacker.

An investigation has been launched into the incident regarding attempted murder and intentional violence with a weapon.

Macron on Sunday won a second term after Le Pen conceded defeat via her social media when interior ministry figures revealed that the former was on course for a solid 57.4 percent of the vote.

“The French showed this evening a desire for a strong counterweight against Emmanuel Macron, for an opposition that will continue to defend and protect them,” Le Pen told supporters on Sunday.

Macron, meanwhile, said that the result was a victory for “a more independent France and a stronger Europe.”