Sydney bishop forgives attacker after church stabbing: ‘You are my son’

A Sydney bishop, who was stabbed during a live-streamed sermon, said on Thursday that he has forgiven his attacker, reported AFP.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was attacked by a 16-year-old suspect on Monday, sparking a riot by followers of the Assyrian Christian church in western Sydney. About 30 people were injured in the riot, including one police officer with a broken jaw.
“I forgive whoever has done this act and I say to him: You are my son, I love you and I will always pray for you. And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well,” the bishop said in a YouTube video.
He also said that he is doing well and recovering very quickly. “There is no need to be worried or concerned,” the bishop, who has an online following of almost 2,00,000 said.
On Tuesday, the Australian police said the brutal knife attack in which the bishop and multiple worshippers were injured was a “religiously motivated terrorist” act.
According to New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb, the attack was deemed an act of religiously motivated “extremism” that intimidated the public – both parishioners at the church and people following the live-streamed service online.
Jamal Rifi, a western Sydney doctor who is in contact with the teenager’s family, told AFP that they were in “shock” and “in disbelief. The boy’s mother claimed that her son had anger and mental health issues.
The attack at the church was the second stabbing incident in Sydney within three days.
On Saturday, a knife attack at a busy shopping centre near Bondi Beach that killed six people, including the suspect. The assailant was shot by a police officer during the rescue operations.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has praised those who intervened in Saturday’s attack to prevent more deaths, including security guard Muhammad Taha, who was stabbed in the stomach.