Pope Leo XIV has denounced the latest assault on Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), drawing attention to what he characterized as a proliferating global trend of violence targeting believers.

“In numerous regions worldwide, Christians encounter discrimination and persecution. I am particularly mindful of Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sudan, and other nations from which we frequently receive reports of attacks on communities and places of worship. … My prayers are with the families in Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, where a massacre of civilians recently occurred. Let us pray that all violence ceases and that believers can collaborate for the common good,” the Pope wrote in a statement published on his official channels.

His message coincided with confirmation from DRC authorities, as reported by The Associated Press, that at least 17 people were killed when fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces, an insurgent group, stormed a church-managed hospital in the village of Byambwe, North Kivu.

The attackers breached the diocesan health center late Friday night, killing patients in their beds and setting the facility ablaze. Colonel Alain Kiwewa, the local administrator, informed The Associated Press that “women who were breastfeeding were brutally slaughtered and found with their throats slit in their hospital beds,” specifying that 11 women and six men were among the fatalities.

Reports from survivors and clergy described the scene as “a terrorist attack on civilians.” Reverend Giovanni Piumatti, an Italian missionary with over five decades of service in the Diocese of Butembo-Beni, told the publication that militants looted medical supplies, torched the hospital, and destroyed 27 nearby homes.

“This is an atrocity,” he stated in the Vatican News interview. He added that the ADF fighters “kill mothers as they are breastfeeding their babies,” characterizing this as a widespread pattern of brutality in the region.

The ADF, which pledged allegiance to a major militant organization in 2019, has consistently targeted Christians, churches, and religious establishments across eastern Congo.

A Human Rights Watch report from August 6, 2025, noted that the Allied Democratic Forces “killed more than 40 people, including several children, with guns and machetes during a nighttime church gathering” in Komanda, Ituri province, and highlighted that in recent years the group has been “implicated in scores of killings and abductions” throughout eastern Congo.

Vatican News reported that the hospital was operated by the Little Sisters of the Presentation, who offer maternal care and basic surgical services in a region with few functioning medical facilities. According to The Associated Press, several newborns are believed to have been abducted in the attack.

Piumatti condemned what he termed the “shameful silence” of the international community, asserting that economic interests in North Kivu’s mineral-rich territory have enabled armed groups to thrive.

The Byambwe massacre is the most recent in a series of Islamist-linked attacks on the continent, lending fresh urgency to the Pope’s call for global attention to these issues and the protection of vulnerable communities.