BBC News reported that the Democratic Republic of Congo's major city of Goma, of more than a million people, was captured after the Rwanda-backed M23 executed a rapid advance through eastern DR Congo, Africa. The city was chaotic, with bodies lying in the streets and missiles reportedly flying over residential homes.
The UN says at least 2,900 people were killed during the fighting, with 2,000 bodies buried and another 900 still in the city's morgues. Earlier this week, the rebels announced a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds. However, the M23 launched a new offensive on Wednesday, sources say, reportedly capturing the mining town of Nyabibwe.
Vatican News reported that, in celebrating the World Day of Consecrated Life on Sunday, February 2, consecrated persons in the Democratic Republic of Congo organized a fundraiser for Goma, in the war-torn province of North Kivu. Presiding over the Eucharistic celebration on this occasion in the Congolese capital, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo reassured the Bishop of Goma of the closeness of the Church in Kinshasa.
Vatican News wrote that on Feb. 2nd, Pope Francis, who visited the country in 2023, made an appeal for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Eastern Province of North Kivu. The province has faced violence for decades, where armed groups terrorise communities and where millions of people have been displaced with no access to homes, education, healthcare or even food and water. Families have been torn apart and children are left without even the most basic needs to survive.
While the most intense and prolonged violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is concentrated in the eastern provinces, for which Pope Francis has prayed - in particular, North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and parts of Maniema and Tanganyika - other regions are also experiencing instability. According to the United Nations, as of April 2024, 7.3 million people are displaced in DRC.
The National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) expressed their “fraternal closeness and solidarity” with the people of God in North Kivu and South Kivu Provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the region faces escalating violence.
In the Congolese capital, the Bishop of Goma, Mgr Willy Ngumbi, concelebrated the Mass presided over by the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, in the Notre-Dame du Congo Cathedral, reassuring the prelate of Goma of the proximity and communion of the Church of Kinshasa. Thanking the Catholic Christian community of Kinshasa. Mgr Ngumbi also congratulated the consecrated people of the city of Goma for their witness, since they remained with the population throughout the recent war for the conquest of the city, while the bishop was traveling in Europe. While uncertainty and worry are increasingly settling in North Kivu, Mgr Ngumbi stressed that he is now seeking to return to his diocese as quickly as possible to bring comfort and hope to the faithful.
In the Saint Francis Xavier Cathedral of Kikwit, in the province of Kwilu, Bishop Timothée Bodika urged consecrated persons to be models for peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. In his homily, the prelate deplored the dramatic situation in Goma by saying " no to war ". To show his closeness to the victims of conflict and violence, the Bishop of Kikwit observed a time of silence for the souls of the deceased, and had the consecrated persons of Kikwit prepare an envelope of money for the victims of Goma.
Fides reports that, "the humanitarian situation in Goma remains difficult because there is no electricity and no water pumped and filtered from Lake Kivu. Without electricity, the pumps and sewage treatment plants do not work. The most difficult conditions are for the displaced people (an estimated one million internally displaced people live in Goma). In the parish of Saint Francis Xavier in Ndosho, a suburb on the outskirts of the city, around 2,000 displaced people live without water and in precarious conditions; in addition, there are around 1,600 people housed in the nearby school," the observers report. Meanwhile, the rebels are slowly advancing towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. "In recent days, ambulances have been travelling between Goma and Rwanda to bring the remains of the soldiers who fell on the streets of the city to their families and to ensure a dignified burial, as otherwise they would have ended up in mass graves that are currently being dug.
In addition, it is slowly getting hot in Goma and this is another reason why it is urgent to bury the bodies lying on the streets."
In January, the Bishop of Goma, Willy Ngumbi Ngengele, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, issued a warning about the drastic situation in the city, as fighting rages between rebels from the M23 group and government soldiers.
The bishop published a message on 27 January which was sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), in which he states that the Church is following developments “with dismay” and notes that the civilian population is already suffering, pointing out incidents such as the bombing of the General Charity Maternity Hospital, causing the death of newborn infants.
The bishop’s words come as the rebel movement M23 has announced the conquest of Goma, the capital of the province of North Kivu, but fighting is still reported within the city itself.
In his statement, Bishop Ngumbi Ngengele calls for “absolute respect by all parties, and in all circumstances, for human life and for private and public infrastructure in accordance with human dignity and international law”, and stresses in particular the need to ensure access to basic services for the population, and to avoid the scourge of sexual violence that so often accompanies armed conflict.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgly1yrd9j3o
In the Congolese capital, the Bishop of Goma, Mgr Willy Ngumbi, concelebrated the Mass presided over by the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, in the Notre-Dame du Congo Cathedral, reassuring the prelate of Goma of the proximity and communion of the Church of Kinshasa. Thanking the Catholic Christian community of Kinshasa. Mgr Ngumbi also congratulated the consecrated people of the city of Goma for their witness, since they remained with the population throughout the recent war for the conquest of the city, while the bishop was traveling in Europe. While uncertainty and worry are increasingly settling in North Kivu, Mgr Ngumbi stressed that he is now seeking to return to his diocese as quickly as possible to bring comfort and hope to the faithful.
In the Saint Francis Xavier Cathedral of Kikwit, in the province of Kwilu, Bishop Timothée Bodika urged consecrated persons to be models for peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. In his homily, the prelate deplored the dramatic situation in Goma by saying " no to war ". To show his closeness to the victims of conflict and violence, the Bishop of Kikwit observed a time of silence for the souls of the deceased, and had the consecrated persons of Kikwit prepare an envelope of money for the victims of Goma.
Fides reports that, "the humanitarian situation in Goma remains difficult because there is no electricity and no water pumped and filtered from Lake Kivu. Without electricity, the pumps and sewage treatment plants do not work. The most difficult conditions are for the displaced people (an estimated one million internally displaced people live in Goma). In the parish of Saint Francis Xavier in Ndosho, a suburb on the outskirts of the city, around 2,000 displaced people live without water and in precarious conditions; in addition, there are around 1,600 people housed in the nearby school," the observers report. Meanwhile, the rebels are slowly advancing towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. "In recent days, ambulances have been travelling between Goma and Rwanda to bring the remains of the soldiers who fell on the streets of the city to their families and to ensure a dignified burial, as otherwise they would have ended up in mass graves that are currently being dug.
In addition, it is slowly getting hot in Goma and this is another reason why it is urgent to bury the bodies lying on the streets."
In January, the Bishop of Goma, Willy Ngumbi Ngengele, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, issued a warning about the drastic situation in the city, as fighting rages between rebels from the M23 group and government soldiers.
The bishop published a message on 27 January which was sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), in which he states that the Church is following developments “with dismay” and notes that the civilian population is already suffering, pointing out incidents such as the bombing of the General Charity Maternity Hospital, causing the death of newborn infants.
The bishop’s words come as the rebel movement M23 has announced the conquest of Goma, the capital of the province of North Kivu, but fighting is still reported within the city itself.
In his statement, Bishop Ngumbi Ngengele calls for “absolute respect by all parties, and in all circumstances, for human life and for private and public infrastructure in accordance with human dignity and international law”, and stresses in particular the need to ensure access to basic services for the population, and to avoid the scourge of sexual violence that so often accompanies armed conflict.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgly1yrd9j3o
https://www.vaticannews.va/fr/eglise/news/2025-02/rdc-celebration-de-la-vie-consacree-en-communion-avec-les-sinis.html
https://cecongo.net/
https://cecongo.net/
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-02/pope-francis-appeals-drc-peace-north-kivu-children-world-day.html
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