PARIS — France marks 10 years since the coordinated terrorist attacks that left more than 130 people dead across Paris — including 90 at the Bataclan concert hall. On Nov. 13, 2015, Islamic State group militants struck the heart of the City of Lights with shootings, bombings, and terror that shocked the world. Masses are held across the city with church bells ringing in memory of the victims.
“Ten years ago, our city was brutally plunged into mourning by the deaths of 130 innocent people,” Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris said in a Nov. 13 statement posted on X.
“For many of us,” he said, the memory of Nov. 13, 2015, “remains, even today, that of a long night of anguish; of our shock at the most gratuitous and senseless violence; of our shock at the sheer intensity of evil.”
Ninety lives were lost at the Bataclan alone, dozens more across cafés and by the national stadium. On a Friday night, Paris faced horror as nine Islamic State group militants carried out a series of coordinated attacks. Two survivors who later died by suicide are now counted among the victims.
President Emmanuel Macron, government and city officials, took part in commemoration ceremonies, with Parisians paying their tributes to victims and their families.
Archbishop Ulrich said that on the evening of the 10th anniversary of the horrific events, the bells of all the churches in Paris will ring, “inviting us to unite in this same prayer” that united France in 2015.
“Masses and vigils are being held in several parishes,” across the French capital, the archbishop said. “Those of you who wish to do so may express your communion and prayer by lighting a candle in your window.”
The Eiffel Tower will be lit Nov. 13 in the colors of the French flag after nightfall, The Associated Press reported.
“Ten years later, the emotion is still intact” and hope must be shared “despite the pain and the absence,” Anne Hidalgo, Paris’ mayor, said at one of the events commemorating the dark day Nov. 13, AP reported.
“Our faith also compels us not to forget how, amidst that darkness, glimmers of fraternity, love, mutual support, and hope shone brightly that night: how many hands were extended, how much care was given, how many doors opened to offer safe haven, how many prayers were offered,” Archbishop Ulrich said.
“Yes, we believe that, faced with the abyss into which violence had resolved to plunge us, these simple and courageous acts of compassion and kindness were the strongest of defenses,” he said of the atmosphere in France in the wake of the attacks.
In Stade de France, where a soccer match was ongoing, lives were saved by containing panic by keeping the soccer game going when two explosions went off at the entrances — had panic erupted, many more victims would be seen that fatal night.
At the Bataclan concert hall, Islamic State terrorists held a group of hostages for more than two hours, before French security forces stormed the building at 12:20 a.m.
“We Christians believe that on that night, God was truly present, in the eagerness of the healthcare workers, in the selflessness of the police, in the spontaneous outpouring of humanity from so many Parisians,” Archbishop Ulrich said.
“Ten years later, we continue tirelessly to include in our prayers to the Lord those who left this life on November 13, 2015, as well as their loved ones, those who survived that night and who remain wounded, and scarred in body, mind, and soul, to the point that life itself has become, for some, a heavy burden to bear,” the archbishop wrote.
Reminding the words of the late archbishop of Paris, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, from Nov. 14, 2015, to “receive the grace of a steadfast heart, free from hatred. (…) Let us ask for the grace to be peacemakers,” Archbishop Ulrich concluded: “We must never despair of peace if we build justice.”
“Having died and risen, Christ walks through the night for us, walks through the night with us. May He grant us to be ever more faithful witnesses of His hope, His love, and His peace to those who suffer around us, brothers and sisters on the path.”
