Bishops propose Arab World Youth Day for Middle East Catholics

CNA Staff, Oct 5, 2020 / 10:00 pm (CNA).- The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in Spain is providing aid to nearly 70 religious communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo facing extreme poverty due to the coronavirus crisis.

ACN said that because of the pandemic and lockdown in the African country, they will extend urgent subsistence aid to 69 religious communities in the ecclesiastical province of Bukavu, located in eastern Congo.

The pontifical foundation noted that the pandemic has worsened the nuns’ already “extremely difficult” situation, in a country constantly suffering from ethnic conflicts, insecurity, armed incursions from neighboring countries, kidnappings and rapes.

“Since the state of emergency decreed by the president of the DRC on March 24, wages have been suspended,” ACN explained.

Some of the religious sisters work in healthcare and that sector has lost income because it is compensated “according to the number of patients and now people are reluctant to go to the hospital for fear of being infected with the virus.”

“Those who work in schools would receive a part of what the students’ parents paid, but at a time when schools are closed due to COVID-19, they have also lost this income,” the charitable organization lamented.

The Archbishop of Bukavu, François-Xavier Maroy, applied for aid from ACN, which responded by allocating 120,000 euros (about $140,000) to support 464 religious from six different congregations.

ACN’s project director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Christine du Coudray, said that as a foundation it is obliged “to give them relief in their destitution, relief that they will know how to multiply to those people more dispossessed than they are,” in a country that “has lived under smoldering conflict for 20 years.”

“When the conflicts have made all the NGOs flee, the Church and especially the religious sisters remain close to the most disadvantaged population, like anonymous good souls, in accordance with the spirit of Mother Teresa,” she added.

ACN noted its support for sisters is an addition to the work that it has already been doing in the country with the aid provided to priests, who because of the lack of Sunday collections and other resources have no means to survive on or carry on their pastoral work.

“Now that their parishioners are confined to their homes, life has become more difficult for everyone because most of the people are unemployed  (around 96% of the population) and live only on what they get from day to day,” lamented the bishop of the diocese of Mbuji-Mayi, Bernard-Emmanuel Kasanda.

The novice master of the Congregation of Labor Chaplains, Fr. Clemente Mwehu Muteba thanked ACN for its support and said that with the financial help he has been able to pay for fuel to continue his apostolate at his chapel in Lubumbashi, in the province of Alto Katanga and but also to pay “for some paper to meet the needs for the formation of the young people.”

Another member of the congregation of chaplains, Fr. Alain Mwila Wa Ilunga, said that it‘s a real relief to receive this financial support, which he has decided to share “with the most helpless and the poor who are sick so they can nourish themselves with their daily bread.”

This report was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news agency. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Nigerian flag / Labrador Photo Video / Shutterstock.

CNA Staff, May 19, 2021 / 04:30 am (CNA).
A Catholic priest serving in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna archdiocese is among 11 people reportedly kidnapped on Monday. ACI Africa, CNA’s African news … […]

Bangui, Central African Republic, Jul 17, 2018 / 11:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of the Central African Republic have urged Catholics not to give in to calls for revenge attacks on Muslims, following a surge in violence and the murder of a priest.

The CAR has suffered violence since December 2012, when several bands of mainly Muslim rebel groups formed an alliance, taking the name Seleka, and seized power.

In reaction to the Seleka’s attacks, some Central Africans formed self-defense groups called anti-balaka. Some of these groups, mainly composed of Christians, began attacking Muslims out of revenge, and the conflict took on a sectarian character.

A group calling itself the League of Defense of the Church issued a statement earlier this month saying it would defend the Church and avenge killed priests, charging that both the government and the Church hierarchy have failed to protect Christians.

The Central African Bishops’ Conference responded, saying, “The bishops of Central Africa were outraged by this communiqué from an organization called ‘The League of Defense of the Church’ in the Central African Republic of which they know nothing about.”

“The projects that this league claims to achieve are at odds with the gospel, the aspirations of the church and its mission in the Central African Republic,” continued Fr. Joseph Tanga Koti, general secretary of the bishops’ conference.

“The Bishops of the Central African Republic want Central Africans to be vigilant. There are always enemies of peace who want to create a conflict between Christians and Muslims to show that Christians and Muslims cannot live together in Central Africa,” the conference has said.

The CAR held a general election in 2015-16 which installed a new government, but militant groups continue to terrorize local populations. Thousands of people have been killed in the violence, and at least a million have been displaced. At least half of Central Africans depend on humanitarian aid, the U.N. reports.

Pope Francis visited the CAR during his trip to Africa in 2015, and urged the country’s leaders to work for peace and reconciliation.

Three priests have keen killed in the CAR this year.

Fr. Firmin Gbagoua, vicar general of the Diocese of Bambari, was shot June 29 while eating dinner by the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic, and ex-Seleka militia dominated by the Fulani ethnic group.

In May, an attack on Our Lady of Fatima parish in Bangui while Mass was being said left 15 dead, including Fr. Albert Toungoumale Baba.

And in April, Fr. Joseph Désiré Angbabata was killed together with some of his parishioners in an attack on his church in Seko, about 40 miles northeast of Bambari.

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