Catholic Priests in Burkina Faso in Constant Alertness to Death amid Jihadists Threat

For Christians to participate in their various religious activities in Burkina Faso, they must be heavily guarded by the military, he further says.

“On Sundays and feast days, the police, the military, or volunteers, surround the churches so that we can pray and celebrate Holy Mass without danger,” Fr. Belem tells the charity foundation. 

ACN notes that Burkina Faso “has fallen into the meshes” of the jihadist terror that also happens in many of the countries that the West African nation borders, such as Mali, Niger, and Benin.

At 60 percent, the majority of the population of Burkina Faso is Muslim. And at 19 percent, Catholics are less than half of the population.

More and more, these Catholics are being forced to attend Holy Mass via radio, as access to churches, to parishes is almost impossible. 

As hostility against Christians rages on in Burkina Faso, Catholic nurses are disguising themselves as Muslims so that they can go to the villages to take care of the sick. 

Additionally, Christian girls have to go to school with their faces covered so that they are not kidnapped.

Christians are under a real threat from jihadist groups that want to impose Islam by force in Burkina Faso, ACN reports, adding that it takes great courage to resist the Islamization.

Fr. Belem tells ACN that since the terror began, more than 2,000 schools have been closed. 

The jihadists, he says, attack modern schools by turning them into Koranic schools. They go ahead to attack Catholic churches by killing or kidnapping Christians, especially Catechists, Priests and other committed lay people.

“The Jihadists want to impose the wearing of full-face veils on all women, regardless of religion,” he says, and adds, “Many Christian girls have to go to school wearing the veil to avoid being branded, slandered, beaten or even kidnapped.”

The Catholic Priest notes that countering the jihadist threat in Burkina Faso requires courage “and even imagination.”

He shares the creativity of Catholic aid workers in the country, saying, “When we see Catholic nurses who entrust themselves to the mercy of God, disguise themselves as Muslims and go to the villages, going through dangerous areas, going through terrorists to save lives, to care for sick people who could not escape, it is encouraging and we say that it is God who saves.”

Fr. Belem has described the Church in Burkina Faso as “a hotbed of martyrs”, recounting the January 2 murder of Fr. Jacques Yaro Zerbo.

Fr. Zerbo died while on his way to a village for the funeral of a Catechist, Fr. Belem recalls.

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He adds in reference to the late Fr. Zerbo, “He was supposed to go with a parishioner, but at the last minute he decided to go alone. On the way, the terrorists stopped him. Knowing him and knowing that because of his Catholic faith, he was not intimidated, they took him a few meters away from the village chapel, shot him dead, and drove away with his car. The Christians heard the noise, went to check, and discovered that it was Fr. Jacques Zerbo.”

He highlights other incidences of attacks against the Catholic Church in Burkina Faso, saying, “In March 2019, Fr. Joel Yougbare, pastor of Djibo in the Diocese of Dori, was kidnapped and we have no news of him to this day; in May of the same year, parish vicar Simeon Yampa and five other parishioners were murdered during a Sunday Mass. In 2021, another pastor, Rodrigues Sanou, and a Spanish missionary priest, Antonio Cesar Fernandez, were also killed. Other parishioners were kidnapped, some were released, others were not.”

The Catholic Priest has expressed optimism that the Church will eventually triumph over suffering.

“We are convinced that evil will not have the last word. We will continue hopefully to fight terrorism with… our invisible but very effective weapon: prayer, the reception of the sacraments in the Holy Mass and the Rosary,” Fr. Belem says.

He adds, “Dying for the love of God and others destroys the roots of the forces of evil.”

“We are a persecuted Church, but not forgotten, thanks to you. We know that you support us with prayer. With God, there is always salvation!” Fr. Belem says in the April 24 report.