Brother Roger, one of the 20th century’s leading ecumenical figures, was stabbed to death by a woman during a service on Tuesday at the Taize community he founded in eastern France, local police said.
Police said a woman stood up during a religious ceremony attended by some 2,500 people and stabbed Brother Roger three times in the throat. The 90-year-old died immediately.
A 36-year-old Romanian woman was overpowered by worshippers and arrested, police said.
Roger, a Protestant pastor from Switzerland, enjoyed great respect among religious leaders.
Organizers of the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day in Germany said they were shocked at the killing.
“Brother Roger has always been closely attached to the Catholic Church,” Heiner Koch, the secretary general of the event in Cologne, said in a statement. “We were all happy and grateful that he attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II.”
Started community in 1940
Brother Roger founded the Taize monastic community in 1940 after leaving Switzerland at the age of 25 and buying a small house in the village of Taize, where he welcomed refugees fleeing World War Two.
Today the Taize community is made up of over a hundred brothers, including Catholics and Protestants, from more than 25 nations. The community sees itself as an effort to reconcile divided Christians and separated peoples.
Thousands of young people of both Catholic and Protestant faiths flock to the Taize community each year to meet and take part in communal prayer and song.
Many religious leaders have also visited the community, including Pope John Paul II, Archbishops of Canterbury, Orthodox metropolitans and pastors from all over the world.
