Pope Francis Donates to Mozambique’s Victims of Attacks in “gesture of pastoral charity”

PEMBA , 07 December, 2020 / 7:17 PM (ACI Africa).- 

Pope Francis has donated 100,000 Euros to support victims of militant attacks in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province within the Catholic Diocese of Pemba. 

In what the Bishop of Pemba has described as “a gesture of pastoral charity,” the Holy Father’s donation is meant “to help the displaced.”

Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa has been quoted, in a Sunday, December 6 news report saying the donation will be used to construct health posts in the Province of Cabo Delgado that has been experiencing violence for last three years. 

“We will invest in the construction of two health posts, one in Chiúre, the most populous district of Cabo Delgado, and the other in Montepuez, Southwest of the Province, away from the attacks by rebels and one of the safe places that the fleeing IDPs try to reach,” Bishop Lisboa says. 

As a “tribute” to the Holy Father, the health posts will be named “Pope Francis”, Bishop Lisboa, a member of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (Passionists – CP) discloses in the December 6 news report.

Cabo Delgado, the Northernmost Province in Mozambique, has been witnessing growing instability since October 2017 when an Islamist armed group known locally as Al-Sunna wa Jama’a (ASWJ) attacked a police station in Mocimboa da Praia district.

The violent insurgency has negatively affected the lives of over 600,000 people, with more than 200,000 displaced across the region, according to UN Reliefweb.

The attacks have been growing in intensity since the beginning of this year.

In October, the Local Ordinary of Pemba appealed for aid saying that the people of God in the region are experiencing a “deep humanitarian crisis.”

“We need support, we need help. We are truly in a deep humanitarian crisis and we need solidarity,” Bishop Lisboa said October 26.

The Brazilian-born Prelate who was speaking after visiting Paquitequete beach where those fleeing the violence in the region had been arriving in small boats added, “There are a lot of people to be cared for and they need everything.”

Following the call for solidarity made by the Bishop Lisboa, members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) paid a visit to the Local Ordinary of Pemba Diocese from December 2 to 4. 

“The purpose of the visit was to show solidarity with the Bishop of Pemba, the people of Cabo Delgado and see the reality in which people displaced due to terrorism live,” Bishop José Luís of Manzini Diocese in Eswatini has been quoted as saying during the visit. 

The representatives of SACBC, which constitutes Catholic Dioceses in South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland also called on those who are responsible for the instability to end the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado Province.