Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Feb 22, 2017 / 18:09 pm
In the wake of an attack on a Catholic seminary, the leader of the Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has issued an appeal about "the alarming security situation" in his country.
In a message sent to international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, the country's capital, reported on a Feb. 18 "arson attack" on the Malole major seminary. The prelate charged the perpetrators were "violent thugs, who have [also] sown terror among the Carmelite Sisters" in nearby Kananga.
The cardinal described the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as marked by a "resurgence of fear, anger and insecurity" among the population. He stressed that the Catholic Church in particular has come under attack recently.
On Feb. 19, the parish church of St. Dominic in the Limete municipality of Kinshasa was desecrated by a gang of youth. Cardinal Pasinya wrote that "they overturned the tabernacle, ransacked the altar, smashed some of the benches and attempted to set fire to the church. The material damage is considerable."