The Belgian Bishops’ Conference issued a call for unity on Tuesday, urging people not to give in “to those who want to divide and oppose us.”
The call followed the knife attack that left two people dead and one seriously injured in Brussels on Monday evening.
“The perpetrator of the attack apparently wanted to take revenge on the basis of a radicalised faith,” the bishops noted. “Be that as it may, no insult, no aggression, even if it touches us deeply, can be curbed by violence.”
According to the Belgian bishops, if a society without security is impossible so, too, is one “without fraternity and solidarity.”
“Let us not entrench ourselves behind the high walls of our self-righteousness, frightened and hunted down, our backs turned to the other," the Conference added. "We are in dire need of bridge-builders. This is true of countries and peoples. It is just as true within our own circles,”
“Let us be more than ever peacemakers,” it concluded. “Our prayers and their thoughts are with the innocent victims and their families”.
On Monday evening at around 7.00 pm, a gunman opened fire near Place Sainctelette, killing two people and wounding a third, all Swedish nationals.
The gunman then fled on a scooter. In several videos posted on social networks, he claimed to belong to the Islamic State group. He was finally neutralised by the police on Tuesday morning, before dying of his injuries a little later.
