Caritas Internationalis Joins DR Congo’s Catholic Bishops to Denounce “brutal violence inflicted on innocent civilians”

Kinshasa, 06 August, 2025 / 5:09 PM

Caritas Internationalis (CI) is in solidarity with the Catholic Bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in denouncing violence against civilians in the Central African nation. 

This follows the massacre of over 40 young people on July 26-27 night, when rebels reportedly linked to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked Blessed Anuarite Komanda Parish of DRC’s Bunia Catholic Diocese.

“Caritas strongly condemns the brutal violence inflicted on innocent civilians,” officials of the global confederation of Catholic relief agencies say in a Monday, August 4 statement.

They echo members of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) in appealing for “justice” and “the lifting of the failed state of siege” that has been in place since May 2021 in the DRC’s Ituri and North Kivu regions.

The July 27 attack, occurring just days after the desecration of St. John Capistran Parish of Bunia Diocese, highlights the escalating insecurity and rising religious persecution in the region, CI officials note, recalling July 21 incident, when rebels of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) forcefully accessed the building, vandalized the Tabernacle, and destroyed Sacred Hosts.

In their August 4 statement, CI officials cite survivor accounts, noting that during the recent attack in Ituri Province, armed assailants wielding machetes and firearms targeted young faithful gathered to celebrate “the Silver Jubilee of the Eucharistic Crusade,” setting fire to property and abducting several individuals.

They say, “More than 40 young faithful were brutally massacred overnight. Survivors describe machete attacks, shootings, arson, and abductions.”

On July 28, CENCO members strongly condemned the attack on Blessed Anuarite Komanda Parish and expressed solidarity with the affected families describing it an “odious massacre” of innocent civilians.

“We unequivocally condemn this new despicable massacre of innocent people and extend our condolences to the families of the victims,” CENCO members said.

They expressed their indignation over the persistent violence in a province that has been under “a state of siege for several years.”

The Catholic Bishops in the DRC lamented that it remains a paradox that “it is precisely in these provinces” that massacres and kidnappings of civilians continue amid the presence of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) and the decades-long presence of the United Nation’s Organization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO).

CENCO members reiterated their May 17 call for the urgent implementation of the Social Pact for Peace and Harmonious Coexistence in the DRC and the Great Lakes region, an initiative of CENCO in collaboration with their counterparts in the Church of Christ in Congo (ECC).

“The Social Pact aims to lead to a consensus-based national reconciliation, laying the groundwork for an international conference for peace in the Great Lakes Region, while safeguarding the country’s constitutional order and promoting a spirit of brotherhood and tolerance,” CENCO members said on May 17.