France lays to rest priest who was slain by jihadists (SEE PHOTOS)

Thousands gathered at Rouen cathedral in northern France on Tuesday for the funeral of Father Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old priest who was murdered by two jihadists last week.

Some 2,000 mourners were expected to pack the soaring Gothic sanctuary, with hundreds more watching the ceremony on a giant screen outside.

A section of pews was set aside for residents of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, the nearby industrial town where the two jihadists, both 19, slit Hamel’s throat while he was celebrating mass in an attack that shocked the country as well as the Catholic Church.

Along with churches across France, the 11th-century cathedral had on Sunday opened its doors to Muslims wishing to show their solidarity after the grisly attack, with the visitors paying a moving tribute to Hamel and denouncing radical Islam.

As on Sunday, security was tight, with police closely checking mourners’ bags and backpacks.

The church attack came less than two weeks after another attacker ploughed a 19-tonne truck into a massive crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people and wounding more than 300 others.

As mourners gathered at the cathedral, Hamel’s coffin stood before the altar, draped with a white cloth as is customary at the burial of a priest.

A stole, a priest’s vestment resembling a narrow shawl that symbolises the passion of Christ, was draped over a giant cross.

[AP]