Washington, D.C. Newsroom, 26 September, 2025 / 1:00 pm (ACI Africa).
The United States bishops have expressed their solidarity with the bishops and faithful in Africa “as they offer the world a profound witness of respect for human life and dignity amidst ongoing conflicts” on the continent.
In a Sept. 24 statement, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, said the bishops “pray that government officials and people of all faiths may work together to bring lasting peace, justice, and security to the continent.”
“In 2025, millions of our brothers and sisters on the African continent live displaced from their homes and communities, forced to flee due to conflict, religious and ethnic persecution, economic hardship, and environmental crises,” Zaidan wrote.
African nations have experienced extreme violence, war, and disease, which has left more than 15 million displaced in the sub-Saharan region. Zaidan emphasized that “cycles of deadly violence” are leading humanitarian crises to continuously “claim thousands of innocent lives in Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and throughout the Sahel region.”
In Sudan, thousands have been affected by the country’s cholera outbreak, exacerbating the country’s existing humanitarian crisis, with nearly 100,000 reported cases and more than 2,470 related deaths (as of August).
