(ZENIT News / Kinshasa, 08.02.2025).- What began as a peaceful night of prayer turned into a massacre in the early hours of July 27, when Islamist militants attacked a Catholic parish in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The victims were unarmed worshippers gathered for a night vigil at the Blessed Anuarite Catholic Parish in Komanda. By sunrise, more than 43 civilians—nine of them children—lay dead.
The attackers, identified as members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), stormed the parish under cover of darkness. According to reports from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO), the militants used machetes to carry out much of the killing. Survivors recounted how the assailants torched parts of the church and the bodies of the victims, before abducting others and setting fire to nearby homes and shops.
This is not the first time the ADF has targeted Christians. The group, which originated in Uganda in the 1990s with the goal of imposing a radical Islamic state, has pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) since 2019. In recent years, they have shifted their operations to eastern Congo, bringing with them a wave of brutal violence aimed at civilians—especially Christians. Earlier this year, ADF fighters abducted around 100 people from the village of Maiba. Days later, over 70 bodies were discovered inside a Protestant church, most of them women, children, and the elderly.
Churches have become a symbol of both faith and vulnerability. MONUSCO’s deputy head, Vivian van de Perre, condemned the July 27 attack as a flagrant violation of human dignity and international humanitarian law. “These targeted assaults on defenseless civilians, especially in places of worship, are not only atrocious—they are an affront to everything humanity stands for,” she said.
Pope Leo XIV responded with sorrow in a message to the Congolese bishops’ conference. Through a telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, the Pope expressed his “deep sadness” and shared a message of hope. “May the blood of these martyrs become the seed of peace, reconciliation, fraternity, and love for the people of Congo,” the message read.
Yet peace remains elusive. A report from Global Christian Relief places the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the second deadliest country in the world for Christians, behind only Nigeria. According to the report, 390 Christians were killed between November 2022 and 2024, with Islamic militant groups—especially the ADF—being primarily responsible.
The reality for many Christians in eastern Congo is that their faith has made them targets. Night vigils, which once offered solace and communion, now carry the risk of ambush. In such a climate, expressions of solidarity from the Vatican and the international community, while meaningful, are not enough to stop the bloodshed.
For those who survived the attack at Blessed Anuarite Parish, grief is mingled with fear. But amid the smoldering ruins of their sanctuary, the words of the Pope may yet offer some flicker of hope—that the sacrifice of the innocent might bring forth something redemptive for a land long marred by violence.
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