A man suspected of causing a major fire that damaged the cathedral in the French city of Nantes last year has handed himself over to police claiming he had murdered a Catholic priest.
Police found the body of the priest shortly afterwards in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sevre, Vendee region.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he was heading to the scene in western France.
"All my support for the Catholics of our country after the dramatic murder of a priest in the Vendee region," he wrote on Twitter.
A source close to the investigation, who asked not to be named, said a man had earlier gone to police in the town of Mortagne-sur-Sevre and declared he had killed a priest.
The man was already under judicial control over the fire at Nantes cathedral in July 2020, the source added.
The source said that the priest, aged 60, had been welcoming the man into his church for several months.
The Nantes blaze came 15 months after the devastating 2019 fire at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, which raised questions about the security risks for other historic churches across France.
While firefighters were able to contain the Nantes blaze after just two hours and save the main structure, its famed organ, which dated from 1621 and had survived the French revolution and World War II bombardment, was destroyed.
Also lost were priceless artefacts and paintings, including a work by the 19th-century artist Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin and stained glass windows that contained remnants of 16th-century glass. Repairs are due to take several years.
