Pope Leo
“In various parts of the world, Christians suffer discrimination and persecution. I am thinking especially of Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sudan and other countries where we often hear of attacks on communities and places of worship. … I accompany in prayer the families of Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a massacre of civilians has taken place in recent days. Let us pray that all violence may cease and that believers may work together for the common good,” the pope wrote in a statement published on his website. official X page.
His message came as authorities in the DRC confirmed that at least 17 people were killed when fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces, a militant group linked to Islamic State, stormed a church-run hospital in the village of Byambwe, North Kivu, according to The Associated Press.
TRUMP DESIGNATES NIGERIA AS ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ OVER WIDESPREAD CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AND MURDERS
The facade of a church that was hit by an artillery shell after clashes in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on January 30, 2025. (Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images)
The attackers entered the diocesan health center late Friday evening, killed patients in their beds and set fire to the facility. Colonel Alain Kiwewa, the local administrator, told the Associated Press that “lactating women were brutally slaughtered and found in their hospital beds with their throats slit,” adding that 11 women and six men were killed.
Vatican news described the scene as “a terrorist attack on civilians”, citing stories from survivors and clergy. Rev. Giovanni Piumatti, an Italian missionary who served in the Butembo-Beni diocese for more than five decades, told the publication that militants looted medical supplies, set fire to the hospital and destroyed 27 nearby houses.
“This is a typical ADF attack,” he said in the Vatican News interview. He added that ADF fighters are “killing mothers while breastfeeding their babies,” describing a pattern of brutality that he said has become common in the region.
AFRICAN UNION CHIEF DENIES GENOCIDE CLAIMS AGAINST CHRISTIANS, WHILE CRUZ WARNS NIGERIAN OFFICIALS
Pope Leo XIV leads the Jubilee Mass of Marian Spirituality in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on October 12, 2025. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
The ADF, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2019, has repeatedly targeted Christians, churches and religious institutions across eastern Congo.
A Human Rights Watch report dated August 6, 2025, said the Allied Democratic Forces “killed more than 40 people, including several children, with guns and machetes during a nighttime church gathering” in Komanda, Ituri province, noting that the group has “been involved in dozens of killings and kidnappings” across eastern Congo in recent years.
Vatican News reported that the hospital was run by the Little Sisters of the Presentation, who provide maternal care and basic surgical services in a region with few functioning medical facilities. According to the Associated Press, several newborns were reportedly abducted in the attack.
Piumatti condemned what he called the international community’s “shameful silence” and said economic interests in the mineral-rich region of North Kivu have allowed armed groups to flourish.
Villagers walk to the burial site of 49 Christians killed by jihadists in the Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2025. (Opened doors)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The Byambwe massacre is the latest in a series of Islamist attacks on the continent, adding new urgency to the pope’s call for global attention to the persecution of Christians and the protection of vulnerable communities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
