64 killed in attack on Catholic parish

At least 64 people have been killed in a brutal attack on a Catholic parish in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A violent onslaught by members of the Islamist rebel group Allied Democratic Forces struck the parish of Saint Joseph of Manguredjipa in the village of Ntoyo, North Kivu province, in the dead of night.

At least 64 people were slaughtered—many of them hacked to death—while others were shot or bludgeoned. The victims had gathered for a mourning ceremony, unsuspecting and vulnerable, when machetes, firearms, and hammers were unleashed. Some attackers then set homes ablaze. Local officials say the assault was clearly premeditated.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has condemned the atrocity and expressed deep solidarity with the bereaved. The charity emphasises that such acts of violence are not isolated but part of a devastating pattern in eastern DRC, where Islamist militants aligned with IS-CAP (Islamic State’s Central Africa Province) operate with alarming impunity.

Bishop Melchisédech Sikuli Paluku of Butembo-Beni offered a message of spiritual comfort to the afflicted. He prayed that God, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, would console the bereaved and guide the faithful beyond these days of suffering toward enduring peace. Local authorities have begun burying the dead and instituting new security measures, although the scale of militia operations in the region remains severe.

The ADF began as a Ugandan rebel movement before migrating into eastern Congo; in 2019 it formally pledged allegiance to IS-CAP. Since then, its signature brutality—including beheadings, decapitations, and mass killings of civilians—has disproportionately targeted Christian communities.

In nearby Ituri province only months earlier, at least 34 worshippers were massacred in a church, and in July, an attack on a night vigil in a Catholic church in Komanda claimed the lives of dozens.

In February this year, more than 70 corpses were discovered in a Protestant church in Lubero, many with their hands bound and heads severed.

Despite the presence of the Congolese armed forces, Ugandan troops, and the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO), violence in North and South Kivu continues unabated.

The Congolese bishops’ conference has repeatedly denounced the “odious massacres” inflicted upon innocent faithful, and ACN has called urgently for international intervention to protect civilians, uphold religious freedom, and restore order.

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(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

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