DUBLIN (OSV News) — In a powerful courtroom moment just before Holy Week, Irish Army chaplain Father Paul Murphy forgave the radicalized teenager who tried to kill him in a 2024 knife attack.
“I am in the business of forgiveness,” Father Murphy told the Central Criminal Court in Dublin April 10, a week ahead of Holy Thursday, as he spoke before the teenager who attempted to kill him in a shocking knife attack outside Renmore Barracks in Irish Galway.
The 17-year-old youth pleaded guilty to attempted murder on Aug. 15, 2024, when he repeatedly stabbed the priest with a serrated hunting knife. He had been radicalised online and expressed allegiance to the Islamic State group.
In his victim impact statement, Father Murphy addressed the young man, saying he forgave him: “My only desire is that you would learn to see the error of your ways and, when the time comes, return to society to make a positive contribution to the world as a wholesome, happy and loving person.”
His words and assurance of forgiveness left many in the Central Criminal Court moved.
The Islamist-inspired assault resulted in multiple injuries to the priest’s arms, and he now has reduced function in his left arm.
Gerard Gallagher, secretary general of the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland, lives in County Kildare, close to the Irish Army’s Curragh base and military college, which is home to 2,000 military personnel.
“I have known Father Paul for many years in his role as chaplain of the Defence Forces. His gesture in offering forgiveness is an example of true priesthood as we prepare for Holy Week,” Gallagher told OSV News.
“It follows in the tradition of followers of Christ being compassionate and radical in going the extra mile. Being merciful in a leadership role is a value that our society needs at this time,” he said.
Father Murphy was not an intended target. He was attacked as he waited for the gates of the army barracks to open for his car. The school student, who had been waiting at the gates, indicated that he wished to talk to him. As soon as Father Murphy lowered his window, the boy lunged at him and began stabbing him repeatedly.
Father Murphy managed to get his car through the gates of the barracks but the boy clung to the side of his car and continued to stab the priest as the car moved.
The attacker ignored warning shots fired by soldiers, and the attack only ended when the soldiers disabled the student, who was 16-years-old at the time. He later explained to police that the attack was revenge for the Irish Army’s deployment in Mali.
Father Murphy told the court that he was the best placed person to “take the knife that night,” and he considered it an honor and a privilege to carry the scars until his dying day.
He said he thanked God every single day that the knife tore through his skin and “not through the body of one of my comrades.”
Ordained in 1996 at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Waterford City, Father Murphy served in a number of parishes before he joined the Irish Defence Forces as a chaplain in 2014. His role has included overseas deployments as well as organizing military pilgrimages.
In his victim impact statement, he said that far from being “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he was convinced he was the right person, “in the right place, at the right time” and he described the night as being “filled with blessings.”
The 52-year-old priest said he was fortunate that he had not rolled down his window fully when he opened it to talk to the teenager because if he had, he would be dead.
He said he believed Jesuit Father Willie Doyle, an Irish army chaplain in World War I who died on the battlefield in August 1917 and has been named a “servant of God,” had “interceded on his behalf,” the Irish Independent reported.
On the day of the attack — the feast of the Assumption — his rosary beads had been beside him in his car.
At the end of court proceedings, Father Murphy approached the young student who apologized to the priest and they exchanged a hug. The young man is scheduled be sentenced April 29.
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