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Karak church attack in Jordan: what happened, and a prayer for the victims
On Friday, October 23, 2026, gunmen opened fire on mourners at a funeral at St George Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hamoud, in Jordan’s Karak governorate. Jordanian officials gave a toll that day of seven dead and 34 wounded; by October 24 several outlets were reporting nine dead. Authorities called it a terrorist attack, no group had claimed it, and no arrests had been announced. Christian leaders in Jerusalem called it “a grave crime against God and humanity” and asked churches to ring their bells for the victims. Below is what has been reported so far, with dates and sources, a short prayer for the dead, the wounded and their families, and the Scripture Christians turn to when worshippers are killed.
What happened in Karak
According to Reuters, survivors heard an explosion as the funeral procession began, and masked attackers then broke into the church and fired for several minutes. Accounts of the gunmen differ: early Jordanian reports cited by Vatican News described two gunmen, while EWTN News and ACI MENA reported three men who arrived in a pickup truck, one with a rifle and two with handguns.
The toll. On October 23, Public Security Directorate chief Obaidullah Al-Maaytah said seven people were confirmed dead, and 34 were reported wounded (Reuters, via Al Jazeera). On October 24, CNN, Fox News and EWTN News reported nine dead, while NPR, carrying the Associated Press, reported seven killed and 40 wounded. Fox News reported that one critically injured patient remained in unstable condition. The figures differ between reports and may still change.
Who did it. The interior minister called it a “terrorist” attack and “unprecedented.” On October 24, government spokesperson Mohammad Momani said the attackers subscribed to “extremist takfiri ideology” (Fox News); takfiri is a term for extremists who declare other Muslims unbelievers and use that to justify violence. As of the morning of October 24, no group had claimed responsibility, no arrests had been announced, and a public prosecutor had banned publication of details of the investigation (EWTN News/ACI MENA). This page will not name suspects or groups that the authorities have not named.
Jordan’s response. King Abdullah II vowed the attackers would face “the harshest penalties” (Reuters) and said, “Those who imagined that treacherous bullets could divide Jordanians have been thwarted by our resilience and unity” (EWTN News). Jordan declared three days of national mourning, according to the state news agency Petra as reported by Fox News. UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack during a funeral as “especially heinous,” his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said (AP, via NPR).
What church leaders said
- The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem called the targeting of mourners at prayer “a grave crime against God and humanity,” expressed solidarity with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and the victims’ families, and asked churches to ring their bells at noon on Saturday, October 24. Bells rang across Jordan and Palestine (EWTN News/ACI MENA).
- The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, to which the church in Hamoud belongs, said: “We will remain here as witnesses to the faith, however great the challenges.” (EWTN News/ACI MENA)
- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew telephoned Patriarch Theophilos on the evening of October 23, expressed sorrow “over the loss of innocent lives,” said that acts of terrorism “undermine the peaceful coexistence of peoples, religions and cultures,” and prayed for the eternal rest of the victims (Orthodox Times, October 24).
- The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the attack violated the sanctity of places of worship and the right to life and worship, and called Jordan’s national unity a safeguard against terrorism and extremism; the Jordan Council of Churches said the attack targeted social peace and coexistence and rejected attempts to sow religious division (EWTN News/ACI MENA).
We found no statement from Pope Leo XIV on the attack as of the morning of October 25; he is recovering from lung surgery (see our page on his recovery).
A prayer for the victims of the Karak attack
Lord Jesus Christ, you wept at the grave of your friend and you are the resurrection and the life. We pray for those who were killed at St George’s Church in Hamoud while they mourned one of their own. Give them rest where there is no pain, no sorrow and no sighing, and grant them life everlasting. Heal the wounded, steady the hands of those who care for them, and hold close every family whose mourning has been turned into fresh grief. Keep the Christians of Karak and all of Jordan from fear, keep Christians and Muslims there from hatred, and turn the hearts of all who plan violence. Make us peacemakers, and do not let evil have the last word. Amen.
This prayer is original to this page and may be prayed by Christians of any tradition. Orthodox Christians may also pray the traditional Orthodox prayer for the departed; Catholics and many Anglicans the Eternal Rest prayer. More prayers are gathered in prayers for the dead and for funerals.
What the Bible says when worshippers are killed
God is near the grieving. The first word Scripture gives to mourners is not an explanation but a presence:
18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Jesus blessed those who mourn, “for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4), and before raising Lazarus he told Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life” (John 11:25). Paul tells believers not to grieve “as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–14): grief is real, but it is not the end.
Violence cannot separate believers from Christ. Paul names persecution and the sword among the things that cannot cut believers off from the love of Christ:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Read Romans 8 in context · King James Version →
“How long, O Lord?” The Bible does not ask the bereaved to be quiet about injustice. In Revelation 6:9–11 the souls of those “slain for the word of God” cry out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?”, and they are given white robes and told to rest. The cry for justice is placed in God’s hands. Whether the people killed in Hamoud were targeted because they were Christians is for the investigation to establish, but the cry of the psalms and of Revelation belongs to every innocent victim.
Justice, not revenge. Scripture gives the work of punishing evildoers to governing authority (Romans 13:4), and it forbids personal revenge:
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Jesus goes further: “Love your enemies … and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Christians have long read this not as excusing murder but as refusing to let it turn them into haters, a point Jordan’s church leaders made when they rejected attempts to divide Christians from their Muslim neighbours.
The end of the story. The Bible’s last picture of the dead in Christ is one of comfort:
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.Read Revelation 21 in context · King James Version →
How Christian traditions pray for the dead
Orthodox. The victims were mourners at an Orthodox funeral. Orthodox Christians pray for the departed by name, asking God to give them rest in a place “whence all sickness, sorrow and sighing have fled away” (the prayer “O God of spirits” in Isabel Hapgood’s 1906 translation), and hold memorial services for them after the funeral. Bartholomew’s prayer for the “eternal rest” of the victims follows this practice.
Catholic. Catholics pray for the dead and offer Mass for them, trusting them to God’s mercy; November, beginning with All Saints and All Souls, is the Church’s month of prayer for the dead.
Protestant. Most Protestant churches do not pray for the souls of the dead, believing their state is settled at death, but they pray for the wounded and the bereaved, and for justice and peace. Some Anglicans and Lutherans commend the departed to God in prayer.
These are general summaries; for what each church teaches about death and what follows, see What happens when we die?
Christians in Jordan and Karak
Christians number about 300,000 of Jordan’s roughly 11.5 million people, according to Reuters, and attacks like this are extremely rare in the country. Karak has a long-established Christian community (Vatican News), and journalist Taylor Luck told Al Jazeera that its Christian and Muslim residents have lived side by side for generations and take pride in interfaith solidarity. Most of Jordan’s Orthodox Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whose territory includes Jordan.
Karak has been attacked before: in 2016, Islamic State fighters held the town’s Crusader-era castle and killed ten people, including security officers and a Canadian tourist (Reuters, via Al Jazeera). Jordan also has several biblical sites that draw Christian visitors (Reuters).
This page reports what has been published by the outlets and churches named below, with dates. It will be updated if the investigation or the toll changes.