A priest has been stabbed in his own home when he allegedly refused to give an asylum seeker money after letting him use his shower.
Father Jos Vanderlee, 65, suffered injuries to his hands and tendons during the incident at his property in Lanaken, Belgium.
The asylum seeker knocked on the pastor’s door to ask for help and whether he could use his shower, reports Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
Reports indicate the suspect wanted to seek asylum in The Netherlands – which is just two miles from the Belgian town where the priest lives.
But after using his shower, the man asked the priest for money before allegedly stabbing him when the pastor said no.
Mr Vanderlee was rushed to a hospital 10 miles away in Genk with non life-threatening injures.
The priest is responsible for eight parishes in the local area and celebrated his 40th priesthood earlier this month.
Prosecutors said the incident happened at around 2.40pm local time on Sunday and the attacker is said to have fled the scene.
Authorities in Belgium have launched an investigation but they have stressed that the incident can’t be linked to terrorism at this stage.
Marino Keulen, the mayor of Lanaken, said: ‘Despite the fact that we are shocked, we must stress that this incident can not be linked to terrorist acts at this stage of the investigation.’
Father Jos Vanderlee, 65, suffered injuries to his hands and tendons during the incident at his property in Lanaken, Belgium (pictured)
The incident comes just days after French Catholic priest Jacques Hamel was knifed to death by two men who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
The 85-year-old clergyman was in his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, when he was attacked by the teenage knifemen on Tuesday.
Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Nabil Petitjean, both 19, took five hostages before they slashed the priest’s throat at the altar.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and the pair recorded a video pledging allegiance to the terror group.
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