An armed group linked to the Islamic State on Sunday killed dozens of worshippers at a Catholic church in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo while they were participating in a prayer vigil.
According to the BBC, members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) stormed a church in the town of Komanda, where they shot and killed the worshippers, then looted and set fire to nearby businesses.
Komanda is in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area rich in minerals and whose control is disputed by several armed groups.
Dieudonne Duranthabo, a coordinator of civil society in Komanda, told the Associated Press: “More than 21 people were shot dead inside and outside [the church] and we have recorded at least three charred bodies and several houses burned. But the search is continuing.”
Aime Lokana Dhego, a local priest, told AFP: “We have at least 31 dead members of the Eucharistic Crusade movement, with six seriously injured. Some young people were kidnapped; we have no news of them.”
On the other hand, Radio Okapi estimated the number of dead at 43.
Italy Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Sunday condemned the massacre through his X account: “I express the strongest condemnation of the attack on a church in Komanda, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a terrorist group linked to ISIS killed more than 40 civilians.”
“Places of worship must always be preserved and religious freedom must be protected. Italy stands in solidarity with the families of the victims and the Congolese people,” he added.
What is the ADF?
The ADF emerged in Uganda in the 1990s, according to the BBC, accusing the government of persecuting Muslims, but is now based across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they regularly attack civilians of all religions, as in Uganda.
Vatican News said the ADF is “responsible for the murder of thousands of people. Two weeks ago they killed 66 people in the Irumu area.”
Jamil Mukulu, a Christian convert to Islam, is the founder of the ADF, which in early 2024, according to Vatican News, perpetrated an attack also in the eastern part of the country in which at least eight people were killed, five of them while praying, and 30 others were taken hostage.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally at the J.S. Dorton Arena on Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina. / Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
ACI MENA, Nov 8, 2024 / 11:55 am (CNA).
It’s no secret that U.S. politics have fa… […]
Deacon Johnny Al-Daoud celebrates his release from captivity in Syria on March 2, 2025, with family and friends. / Credit: St. Michael’s Church – Maskana Parish
ACI MENA, Apr 5, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
On the morning of Sunday, March 2, without any prior notice, Johnny Fouad Dawoud, a deacon in the Syriac Catholic Church for the Archdiocese of Homs, was released from a Syrian prison after a decade of confinement.
ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, spoke with him after he was reunited with his family to discuss his ordeal of being captured by the Al-Nusra Front, his moments of faith and doubt behind bars, and the light that now shines in his life.
Friends and family gather around Deacon Johnny Fouad Dawoud as he returns home on March 2, 2025, after a decade in captivity. Credit: Photo courtesy of Deacon Johnny Fouad Dawoud
ACI MENA: Tell us first about your upbringing and journey in the Church.
Dawoud: I was born into a religiously committed family, and from childhood, I was passionate about participating in pastoral activities. At the age of 12, I joined the minor and then the major seminary in Lebanon, graduating in 2009 with a degree in theology and philosophy from the University of the Holy Spirit in Kaslik, Lebanon.
I returned to Homs to prepare for my priestly ordination, but as the date for the diaconal ordination approached, I felt unprepared to take on those roles and was not entirely convinced about celibacy. After much reflection and consultation, I decided to be honest with God and myself, and withdrew — a decision that surprised my family and friends, especially my uncle, Cardinal Patriarch Mar Ignatius Moses I Daoud.
[Editor’s note: Dawoud later became a permanent deacon in the Syriac Catholic Church, allowing him to read the Epistles during the liturgy.]
What challenges did you face after that?
I got married and was blessed with a child. However, with the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, I lost my home in the Christian district of Hamidiyah in Old Homs due to clashes. Military service was the biggest challenge; I was moved between several fronts, the last being Abu Dhuhur airport, where we were besieged for months.
The situation was tragic; food supplies ran out, and we were forced to eat grass and leaves. The water was contaminated and not potable, leading to various diseases. In September 2015, the rebels stormed the airport, and only 38 out of 300 survived.
Deacon Johnny Fouad Dawoud gives thanks with his family and friends at Mass after his release from prison in Syria. Credit: Photo courtesy of Deacon Johnny Fouad Dawoud
After you were captured and taken to prison, how did you experience captivity?
We were held hoping for a prisoner exchange, but regime officials did not seriously cooperate with our case. At one point, their negotiators even said, “Kill them; we no longer care about them.” Throughout the 10 years, we were generally treated well and were not subjected to torture or insult, except during the initial investigation period. Yet, our suffering was immense, the hardest part being the complete isolation from the outside world, enough to destroy anyone’s psyche. Living in the unknown as if you were dead causes constant turmoil and devastating frustration.
We fell ill, including with COVID-19, which nearly killed us, and we didn’t even know it had claimed millions outside. Food and water were generally good, though the lack of washing and bathroom water troubled us, but we managed.
After three years of captivity, we were allowed one short call per year (during Ramadan) with our families, thanks to a meeting with Abu Mohammad al-Julani, leader of the Al-Nusra Front.
How did this experience affect your faith?
It’s very difficult for a captive to describe his spiritual experience in prison in a few words.
Muslims were interested in discussing religious issues with me, some of whom I avoided debating due to their blind fanaticism — they knew only words like infidel, polytheist, apostate, atheist, and hypocrite.
However, graduates from Islamic legal institutes and colleges were enjoyable to discuss with, as I had a margin of freedom to speak and defend my faith, which they accepted and understood.
I truly loved witnessing to my faith as if I were living among our saintly fathers and martyrs in times of early persecution. I always lived with Apostle Paul, saying with him: “We are ambassadors for Christ,” indeed being an ambassador for Christ and not just in words, in a place where that was considered heresy.
I prayed a lot, conversing with my Lord at night and calling upon him during the day. But it pains me to say that at the beginning of my captivity, as the years passed and my and my family’s suffering increased, my faith wavered. My trust in God began to shake, and I wondered: Why does my Lord not respond to me? Why is he punishing me? What sins did my family commit to deserve all this suffering?
Deacon Johnny Al-Daoud, pictured with family members, was released from captivity in Syria on March 2, 2025. Credit: St. Michael’s Church – Maskana Parish
What about the moment of your release and your reception in Homs?
On the morning of Sunday, March 2, without any prior knowledge, they called my name, asking me to prepare to leave. I stood outside the prison gate, unbelieving that I was free. I was transferred to the Christian village of Ya’qubiya in Idlib countryside, where Father Louai the Franciscan and the locals warmly received me, leaving a lasting impression on me. There, I contacted the pastor of our Syriac Catholic archdiocese, Bishop Jacob Murad, and my family. My brother Munther, who did not know I had been released, began screaming with joy when I told him, “Prepare dinner, I’ll be home this evening.”
When I arrived at my diocese in Homs, Bishop Jacob, along with priests, my wife, my son, and many relatives and friends, were there to receive me. We entered the church to give thanks to the Lord, and I received holy Communion from his eminence the bishop. After receiving congratulations, I headed to my village, Maskanah (in the Homs countryside), and we entered the village with a grand celebration.
Christians and Muslims, young and old, welcomed me, and crowds from other areas came. When I saw the joy of the people at my liberation, I truly and immediately forgot the suffering of those 10 years.
This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Cairo, Egypt, Apr 1, 2019 / 10:29 am (CNA).- A court in Cairo sentenced Saturday 30 men to between 10 years and life imprisonment. They were charged with planning to bomb a church in Alexandria, an attack which was not carried out.
Egypt has seen a number of attacks on churches in recent years, motivated in part by a call from the Islamic State.
Of the 30 men sentenced March 30, only 20 were in court. Ten remain on the run. Prosecutors said they had been trained abroad and were influenced by Islamic State.
They were also accused of joining an illegal group, possessing explosives, and planning to attack a liquor store, Reuters reported.
In February 2017 the Islamic State issued a call to target Egypt’s Christians.
At least seven Coptic Orthodox people were killed, and 12 injured, in a November 2018 attack on a bus travelling to St. Samuel the Confessor monastery in Minya governorate. Another attack on a group of pilgrims to the monastery in May 2017 had killed 29.
In December 2017, 11 people were killed in an attack on a church in Helwan, in Minya governorate.
Attacks on churches committed on Palm Sunday of 2017 killed 45 and injured more than 125.
St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral was bombed in December 2016, killing 29.
About 10 percent of Egypt’s population are Christian, the vast majority of whom are Coptic Orthodox.
The BBC news report on this incident ever so carefully avoided mentioning that it happened at a Catholic church although they did quote a priest’s statement. The violence was, of course, attributed to economic causes.
But a UPI story on the incident mentioned “Islamic” group and “Catholic Church” in the lede paragraph. Interesting contrast, eh what?
When Islam conquers, other faiths are crushed. The Reconquista in Iberia is one of the very few exceptions but look for that victory to be reversed in another generation or so.
This has been going on for centuries. All these areas were once majority Christian: Egypt (90% Copts until the religion of peace came in the seventh century); Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinian territory, Syria (where Christians were first called Christians!), Anatolia (today’s Turkey), North Africa (the land of Tertullian and St. Cyprian of Carthage, St. Athanasius of Alexandria and St. Augustine of Hippo!)…there were even Christian (and Jewish) enclaves in Arabia. Then came the religion of peace in the seventh century and in a century turned all these places into religion of peace majority. In Egypt alone, Christian now make up less than 10% and continue to be persecuted and d oppressed). Europe will be next in a few decades just from demographics. See below historian R. Ibrahim account of the persecution of Christians just in the last few decades. Lamentably, neither most of the media nor even CWR mention all of these:
‘We Were Commanded [by Allah] to Kill You!’ The Muslim Persecution of Christians, June 2025 https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2025/07/28/we-were-commanded-by-allah-to-kill-you-the-muslim-persecution-of-christians-june-2025/
This is what you get when you get into bed with Muslims. Sorry, but they commit barbaric acts. What’s so disappointing is we have a hierarchy that bends over backwards to placate barbarism. Guess what the result of that is.
Some consider it the religion of peace! Others view it as a typical man made religion.
We worship the Prince of Peace.
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
This happens when Muslims are only 14 per cent of the population of Uganda.
Uganda would commit no injustice if it were to outlaw Islam altogether.
The BBC news report on this incident ever so carefully avoided mentioning that it happened at a Catholic church although they did quote a priest’s statement. The violence was, of course, attributed to economic causes.
But a UPI story on the incident mentioned “Islamic” group and “Catholic Church” in the lede paragraph. Interesting contrast, eh what?
When Islam conquers, other faiths are crushed. The Reconquista in Iberia is one of the very few exceptions but look for that victory to be reversed in another generation or so.
Someone once said that BBC stands for “Broadcasting Before Confirming. ”
The BBC’s slant just keeps getting more ridiculous and the reporting more selective.
This has been going on for centuries. All these areas were once majority Christian: Egypt (90% Copts until the religion of peace came in the seventh century); Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinian territory, Syria (where Christians were first called Christians!), Anatolia (today’s Turkey), North Africa (the land of Tertullian and St. Cyprian of Carthage, St. Athanasius of Alexandria and St. Augustine of Hippo!)…there were even Christian (and Jewish) enclaves in Arabia. Then came the religion of peace in the seventh century and in a century turned all these places into religion of peace majority. In Egypt alone, Christian now make up less than 10% and continue to be persecuted and d oppressed). Europe will be next in a few decades just from demographics. See below historian R. Ibrahim account of the persecution of Christians just in the last few decades. Lamentably, neither most of the media nor even CWR mention all of these:
‘We Were Commanded [by Allah] to Kill You!’ The Muslim Persecution of Christians, June 2025
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2025/07/28/we-were-commanded-by-allah-to-kill-you-the-muslim-persecution-of-christians-june-2025/
This is what you get when you get into bed with Muslims. Sorry, but they commit barbaric acts. What’s so disappointing is we have a hierarchy that bends over backwards to placate barbarism. Guess what the result of that is.
Islam is a religion/political movement of conquest.
We need to get that straight, preferably sooner rather than later.