Bishops Decry Violence in Mozambique with a Historic Catholic Parish and Nursery School Destroyed in Attack
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Mozambique: Terrorist Attack Levels Parish as Bishop Cries Out for Help
Vatican City — In a brutal escalation of the conflict in northern Mozambique, terrorists have razed a historic Catholic parish, a nursery school, and a clergy residence in the Cabo Delgado province. The attack marks another grim chapter in a 9 year insurgency that has claimed over 6,200 lives and displaced 1.3 million people, yet continues to be met with international silence.
The Siege of Meza Village
On the afternoon of Thursday, April 30, militants from Ahlu al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a—an affiliate of the Islamic State—stormed the village of Meza in the Ancuabe district. Sister Laura Malnati, provincial of the Comboni Missionary Sisters, provided a harrowing account of the destruction to Avvenire.
The Targets: The terrorists focused their fire on the St. Louis de Montfort parish, a landmark of the region since 1946, along with the Piarist Fathers' residence and a local nursery.
The Escape: Tragedy was narrowly averted for the clergy; priests were warned just in time and fled the village minutes before the militants arrived.
The Tactics: Civilians who could not flee were rounded up and forced to listen to extremist hate speech while their homes and places of worship burned.
- "Since 2017 More than 300 Catholics killed, most by decapitation"
The attack and destruction of the Parish of Saint Louis of Montfort is just the latest episode of direct violence against the Catholic Church by these terrorists who claim to belong to the Islamic State of Mozambique.
Last December, when Cardinal Pietro Parolin visited the Diocese of Pemba representing Pope Leo XIV, Bishop António Juliasse gave an overview of the jihadist violence in the territory up to that point, stating that since the beginning of the attacks – the first in October 2017 in Mocímboa da Praia – “more than 300 Catholics have been killed, most by decapitation ,” and 117 churches and chapels have already been destroyed, 23 of them in 2025 alone. Currently, with the attack on the parish of São Luis de Monfort, that number is now outdated.
During his visit to Mozambique, which took place between December 5th and 10th, Cardinal Pietro Parolin made a point of traveling to Cabo Delgado, where he heard firsthand testimonies from people who had suffered the terror of the armed men who have already caused a total of more than 6,300 deaths and more than 1 million displaced persons .
Mozambique is a priority country for the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation, which has supported the local Church on several levels, not only with humanitarian aid, but also by promoting, for example, psychosocial support for victims of terrorists, and also the reconstruction of infrastructure.
"Faith Cannot Be Destroyed"
Bishop António Juliasse Ferreira Sandramo of Pemba described the aftermath as a "scene of true terror," noting that the church was effectively reduced to rubble. Despite the physical devastation, the Bishop remained defiant in a message to Aid to the Church in Need.
"The community is in shock, but the faith of these people will never be destroyed." — Monsignor Juliasse Ferreira Sandramo
The Bishop has issued an urgent plea for international solidarity, highlighting that the systematic destruction of chapels and churches has been an ongoing reality for nearly a decade.
A Paradox of Wealth and Poverty
The tragedy in Cabo Delgado is underscored by a bitter irony: while the province is the second poorest in Mozambique, it sits atop vast reserves of natural gas and mineral wealth.
Source - https://www.vaticannews.va/it/chiesa/news/2026-05/mozambico-bruciata-la-chiesa-a-meza.html
It was “with deep sorrow” that the Archbishop of Nampula and president of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique learned of the terrorist attack last Thursday, April 30th, on the Catholic mission of Saint Louis de Montfort in Minhoene, in the Diocese of Pemba.
In a message sent to the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation in Lisbon, Bishop Inácio Saure emphasizes that both the church and everything else in the mission , created in 1946 by the Montfortian priests from the Netherlands, was "reduced to rubble ." The terrorists, the prelate explains, "burned the parish church, the office and the missionaries' residence, and vandalized the kindergarten," which in Mozambique is called a "little school."
As if this barbaric destruction of infrastructure serving the religious and social needs of the community wasn't enough, the attackers once again spread clear and forceful messages of hatred against Christians. This completely contradicts our culture of peaceful coexistence among people of different religious beliefs in Mozambique, our way of being, our way of doing, and our way of living in peace.”
“In taking a stand against this latest condemnable event, as a Mozambican, as a Christian, and as president of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique, I want to express my strongest condemnation of the violence against Christians and my most vigorous appeal for mutual respect and love among those who claim to be children of God and, in our particular case, among believers of Abrahamic religions, such as Christianity and Islam, because the God of Abraham, the God of Muhammad, and the God of Jesus Christ is not a God of hatred and crime, but a God of love,” the Archbishop of Nampula further states. “Let the destruction and death cease. Let the incitement to Christianophobia cease, and may Islamophobia never arise, because Muslims are not our enemies; they are our beloved brothers ,” he adds.
Concluding the voice message sent to AIS in Lisbon, the prelate states that he continues to believe that all men, believers or not, can and should "live together in harmony and peace" .
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