In a time of tragedy and crisis, the good Christian people of Paris come together to help visitors to their great city.

With five Metro lines shut and Paris under military lockdown, tens of thousands of tourists in the city are tonight unable even to get to their hotels. With gunshots still ringing through the streets, innocent couples and families are finding their dream break in Paris turning to terror.

So, in a heart-warming act of collective human kindness, and while the political elite run around and squawk like headless chickens, ordinary people have spontaneously come together with the hashtag #PorteOverte (‘OpenDoor’) to allow frightened and disorientated visitors to hook up with local householders who are opening their homes and offering shelter, friendship and beds for the night.

You reading this probably don’t know anyone who is in Paris tonight, but the way social media works, someone you know certainly does. So please forward this RIGHT NOW and help us send this viral.

You’re probably watching tonight’s events from a warm, comfortable and secure room of your own, but tonight many thousands of people just like you in Paris are in a very different position. So please take a moment to help spread #PorteOverte and perhaps help someone who will never know who it was who helped inform them of this wonderfully kind gesture, but who will be grateful all the same.

Information service by Knights Templar International – France: Deus vobiscum