'Sick woman' slits throat of famous cleric in church Worshippers in Paris pray for Brother Roger and the 152 French tourists killed when their plane crashed in Venezuela last week.

PARIS -- A Romanian woman slipped into a choir of singing monksduring an evening prayer service and fatally slit the throat of the90-year-old founder of an ecumenical Christian community in thepresence of 2,500 horrified pilgrims in Burgundy, authorities saidWednesday.

The slaying Tuesday of Brother Roger in the Church ofReconciliation drew reactions of shock and grief from the pope, theleader of the Anglican Church and worshippers around the world.

"It happened very fast. There were some screams. We turned around.He was wounded," said Brother Emile, who witnessed the killing. "Wecarried him out of the church so people didn't see the terrible part.. . . She slit his throat."

Brother Roger was stabbed at least twice in the neck.

Saved Jews during Holocaust

Pope Benedict XVI deplored the "very sad and terrifying news."Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of theChurch of England, called it "an indescribable shock."

Brother Roger, whose surname was Schutz, was born of a SwissProtestant father and a French Catholic mother. He moved to Taize in1940 with plans to found a monastery.

He harbored Jewish refugees during the Nazi occupation of Franceduring World War II, then built the ecumenical Taize Community with amission to reconcile all denominations of Christians and promotedialogue and peace.

Some 2,500 people were worshipping in the church when the womansurged forward and stabbed Brother Roger.

The 36-year-old intruder, who was not identified by name, hadvisited Taize for a week in June and was considered psychologicallyfragile. Brother Emile said they had learned from colleagues that shewas "a very sick woman in Romania" who screamed in churches.

AP