Bishops in Southern Africa Condole with Mozambican Church Following Murder of Comboni Nun

In a Wednesday, September 7 statement addressed to “The President of Mozambique Episcopal Conference of (ECM), Provincial of the Comboni Sisters, brothers and sisters in Christ,” SACBC members express their “deep sorrow” about the events of the previous night. “We learnt with deep sorrow about the murder of Sister Maria De Coppi last night in Chipene, Diocese of Nacala, Nampula Province and the destruction of property with which the Comboni Missionary Sisters serve the poor of Nampula,” they say in their statement signed by SACBC President, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka. 

The Catholic Bishops of the three-nation Conference say the Italian-born Comboni Sister “joins many other innocent lives that have been brutally terminated for greed and intolerance of freedom of belief”. For them, the 83-year-old member of CMS “died a martyr’s death because she has not abandoned the poor even in such difficult times.”

In their collective statement shared with ACI Africa, the Catholic Bishops of Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa say they remain worried about the Priests and other Nuns who fled the mission after it was attacked “and pray that they are safe where they are”. “There is nothing one can say at this moment to console you except to assure you that we grieve with you,” SACBC members say, and add, “At this challenging time, we try to hang on to the words of Jesus, who promises those who mourn while believing in Him that they shall be comforted.”

In a Wednesday, September 7 interview with ACI Africa, the Archbishop of Mozambique’s Nampula Archdiocese said there is “an ambiance of a lot of grief and a lot of fear, a lot of uncertainty” following the September 6 attack.

Archbishop Inácio Saúre added, “We fear the existence of terrorists, that they may attack other parts of Nampula Province at any given time”. The member of the Institute of Consolata Missionaries (IMC) said that attacks in Nampula province began on September 2 when “insurgents attacked Namapa, in the District of Erati, Nampula Province”.

The insurgents who attacked the Comboni mission in Nacala Diocese “may be the same terrorist group that has been attacking Cabo Delgado,” the Mozambican Archbishop told ACI Africa. He decried the lack of sufficient security measures to protect members of the Clergy and women and men Religious in Mozambique. He said, “A lot more needs to be done, because there’s no provision made for the protection of the religious.”

Archbishop Saúre continued, “I am sure the local authorities already had this information through the security forces of the country, which were under their control. But there are no, let's say, special measures for the protection of the religious missionary personnel; there are no special measures at all”. The 62-year-old Archbishop of Nampula called on the Mozambican and international communities to “take these attacks seriously and help identify the root causes of this evil and find effective solutions, so that we can thus find an effective solution.”

“Unfortunately, history has taught us that when the terrorist attacks began in Cabo Delgado, it wasn’t immediately taken very seriously to the point that it even spread into other provinces in the north of the country, from Cabo Delgado to Niassa and now to Nampula,” he said. “These attacks deserve a lot of attention from all of us, but particularly from the authorities, who also have the duty to protect the people,” Archbishop Saúre said about the terrorist attacks, which began in October 2017 in Mozambique’s Northmost Province of Cabo Delgado.

In their September 7 statement, SACBC members say they are praying “for the conversion of those who murder innocent people”. “We pray that the Lord will strengthen you and that you continue to be a sign of hope and peace in a rapidly deteriorating situation,” the Catholic Bishops of the three-nation Conference say in their message to Bishops, Priests and women and men Religious in Mozambique. They add, “We are ‘one body in Christ’. Your pain is our pain. We stand by you in solidarity and unceasing prayer.”

(Sheila Pires and Magdalene Kahiu - ACI Africa)