Vatican City, 28 July, 2025 / 11:10 pm (ACI Africa).
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Monday expressed his concern over the July 27 attack on a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which killed at least 31 members of the Eucharistic Crusade, a prayer movement and an apostolate for children and young people focused on devotion to the Eucharist and personal sanctification.
“This is a dangerous sign,” Parolin declared, pointing to the growing threat from forces identified as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
For the Italian prelate, this group is a force “that in practice represents Islamic jihad and that imposes itself through force and violence.”
The attack has once again raised the alarm about the insecurity of Christians in the region: “This represents an additional problem in a region that already suffers from many conflicts of an ethnic, cultural, and sociopolitical nature. The addition of a religious aspect now further aggravates the situation,” Parolin told the media during a break at an event with Catholic influencers at the Via della Conciliazione auditorium a short distance from the Vatican.
According to initial reports, the terrorists stormed a Catholic church in northwestern DRC while they were participating in a prayer vigil.
