Pope Francis has decried the brutal murder of students in Cameroon.
At the end of his weekly General Audience this Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, Francis remembered the six young students from the town of Kumba murdered last Saturday, October 24.
According to Fides, the massacre occurred at the International Bilingual Academy Madre Francisca around 11:30 a.m., when a group of unidentified assailants entered the school facilities and opened fire on young people, between 9 and 12 years old, during class.
Saying he joined “in the pain of the families of the young students brutally murdered last Saturday in Kumba,” Pope Francis expressed: “I feel a great bewilderment by such a cruel and senseless act, which has taken the lives of innocent little ones while they were in class at school.”
“May God enlighten hearts,” he prayed, “so that similar gestures are never repeated again and so that the tormented regions of the northwest and southwest of the country can finally find peace!”
The Holy Father also expressed his hope that “the weapons remain silent and that the safety of all and the right of each young person to education and the future can be guaranteed.”
To “all the families, to the city of Kumba and to all of Cameroon,” Pope Francis invoked “the consolation that only God can give.”
According to Fides, this massacre has not been an isolated event, but has been one more attack within the difficult socio-political context that is going through both the northeast and southwest of the region, a situation that has been ongoing since 2016.
The victims’ funeral will be held on October 30 in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Kumna.
