VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis declared during his Wednesday morning mass that killing in the name of God is “Satanic,” and that the French Priest Father Jacques Hamel, murdered by Isis in Rouen, should be considered a martyr.

 The pontiff read mass in the chapel of the Santa Marta guesthouse, his own home in the Vatican, in solidarity with Fr. Jacques’ relatives and with Rouen’s whole community, also paying great homage to the priest himself, after the tragic terrorist attack against him July 26.

 Fr. Jacques was saying mass in his church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, outside Rouen when two teenage terrorists came to slit his throat and took others hostage. The attack was then claimed by Isis.

 Amongst those who attended the Pope’s mass in the Santa Marta chapel was a group of 80 pilgrims from Rouen’s diocese along with their bishop Monsignor Dominique Lebrun, come to mourn the murdered priest. Many important cardinals were also present at the service.

 “The Christians who suffer today, whether it be in prisons or with death or with torture, in order to not renounce Jesus Christ, clearly show us the cruelty of this persecution,” said Pope Francis, speaking next to a photo of Fr. Jacques placed on the altar. “And this cruelty that demands apostasy is, let us say the word, satanic. And how pleasant it would be if all religious denominations were to say -- killing in the name of God is satanic.”

 “Father Jacques is a martyr, and martyrs are blessed. We must pray for him so that he gives us meekness, brotherhood, peace, and also the courage to speak the truth -- killing in the name of God is satanic,” the head of the Holy See concluded.