Priest stabbed during Friday Mass in Montreal is in stable condition

March 22 (UPI) -- A Montreal-area priest is in stable condition after being stabbed during a service Friday morning.

Montreal police received a 911 call at 8:40 a.m. from the Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal that Father Claude Grou had been stabbed. He was transported to the hospital with injuries on his upper body. The attacker ran from behind the rectory and attacked him with a sharp weapon.

Police later arrested a suspect who will be questioned by police.

The incident was captured on a livestream and television broadcast.

Philip Barrett witnessed the attack and described it to Patheos.

"There was a man, a young man, who stood up and, quickly, went to the front, into the sanctuary, behind the altar where Abbé Claude Grou was standing. No one was sure what exactly was happening and I saw the priest move a bit, further away from this person," Barrett said. "He struck him. I didn't see clearly how he struck him, but it was toward (Grou's) body, then after that I think the priest fell. Then, suddenly, people reacted and went toward the front of the church."

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante tweeted that this type of violence has no place in the city.

"I am relieved to learn that the life of Father Claude Grou, Rector of the [Oratory] is out of danger and that his condition is stable," she tweeted in French. "On behalf of all Montrealers, I wish him speedy recovery."