(LifeSiteNews) — Islamist militants have destroyed a Catholic parish in Mozambique, burning the church and surrounding buildings and forcing civilians to witness the attack.
On April 30, militants belonging to the jihadist group Ansar al-Sunna, affiliated with the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province (IS-CAP), attacked the village of Meza in northern Mozambique, setting fire to the historic church of St. Louis de Montfort, the parish buildings, a kindergarten, and multiple homes, while capturing civilians and compelling them to listen to extremist messages.
“We ask for attention and solidarity for the victims of Meza. For nine years, we have watched the insurgents burn chapels and churches in the Diocese of Pemba. But the faith of God’s people will never burn, everyday it is rebuilt,” said Archbishop António Juliasse of Pemba.
According to accounts provided to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the attackers entered the parish compound in the afternoon, around 4 p.m., “and began to destroy everything. The church, the offices and the missionaries’ residence were set ablaze, and the kindergarten was vandalized.”
The church, built in 1946 during the colonial period, had long served as a central symbol of Catholic presence in the region. Archbishop Juliasse also said that “the missionaries are safe, but the community remains in shock even after the attackers left the scene at nightfall.”
Sister Laura Malnati, provincial superior of the Comboni Missionary Sisters in Mozambique, confirmed that the religious personnel were not present during the assault. “They burned the church, the priests’ house, the kindergarten,” she said, noting that the missionaries had received advance warning and managed to leave the village before the militants arrived.
According to the ACN report, “since November 2017, the conflict in Cabo Delgado province has caused at least 6,300 deaths and displaced more than 1 million people, affecting populations of different religions and communities. Within this broader context of violence, at least 300 Catholics have been brutally killed in attacks specifically targeting Christians.”
“Victims include catechists, pastoral agents, lay faithful and an Italian religious, Sister Maria de Coppi. At least 118 churches and chapels have also been destroyed in the course of the insurgency, including this latest incident in Meza,” ACN said.
Archbishop Juliasse also issued an appeal for international attention and assistance for victims of jihadist violence in Mozambique. He stressed that attacks on Christian places of worship have been ongoing for nearly nine years.
Despite that, the president of the Mozambican Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Inácio Saure, said that “Muslims are not enemies” and these attacks “go completely against our culture of peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths and our experience of living in peace.”
“Let the incitement of hatred against Christians cease, and may we not allow space for Islamophobia either, because the Muslims are not our enemies, they are our beloved brethren,” Saure added.
The militants responsible for the attack are identified as part of Ansar al-Sunna, also known locally as Ahlu al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a, an Islamist insurgent group active in northern Mozambique. The group operates in coordination with other factions, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which are based in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Both are integrated into the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province network, a branch of the so‑called Islamic State (ISIS).