By Devin Watkins
“We reiterate our solidarity with the bishops and faithful of Africa, as they offer the world a profound witness of respect for human life and dignity amidst ongoing conflicts.”
Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), expressed that sentiment on behalf of the US Bishops.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Bishop Zaidan noted the millions of people on the African continent who have been displaced from their homes and communities.
He said they have fled due to conflict, religious and ethnic persecution, economic hardship, and environmental crises.
“Cycles of deadly violence and resulting humanitarian crises continue to claim thousands of innocent lives in Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and throughout the Sahel region,” said the Bishop.
People of all faiths, he lamented, are increasingly targeted by mass killings and abductions, as well as forced displacement.
“We remember, in particular, the hundreds of Christian civilians massacred in recent weeks and months in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and northern regions as well as in eastern Congo,” he said.
Bishop Zaidan said the US Bishops pray, and invited everyone to join them in praying, for government officials and people of all faiths, so that they may work together “to bring lasting peace, justice, and security to the continent.”
The US Bishops reaffirmed their belief that the US government and the Catholic Church should embrace their responsibility to show concrete solidarity through humanitarian assistance.
The USCCB carries out a yearly campaign called the “Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa,” which awarded $2.6 million in 2024 to Catholic organizations on the continent to support 96 pastoral projects in 32 countries.
According to the US Bishops, the solidarity fund offers American Catholics the chance to express “a spirit of unity with their brothers and sisters in Africa.”
Concluding his statement, Bishop Zaidan prayed that Our Lady, Queen of Peace, may comfort everyone afflicted by violence and grant them the courage to establish peace in their communities and nations.
As Pope Leo XIV has said, he noted, “May every community become a ‘house of peace,’ where one learns how to defuse hostility through dialogue, where justice is practiced and forgiveness is cherished.”
