Bishop of Pemba urges prayer and solidarity as jihadist attacks devastate Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado, leaving civilians killed and families displaced.
Newsroom (01/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, the poorest region in the country, is once again reeling from jihadist violence. Militants affiliated with the so‑called Islamic State carried out a brutal assault on September 22 in the coastal town of Mocímboa da Praia, killing and beheading several civilians. The town had already faced an earlier attack on September 7 that left four dead.
The escalating violence has prompted Bishop António Juliasse Ferreira Sandramo of Pemba to issue an emotional plea for prayer and solidarity. Speaking during the plenary assembly of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), held in Manzini, eSwatini, which concluded on September 28, the prelate said Cabo Delgado “continues to bleed.” Confronted with an endless cycle of death and displacement, he insisted, “prayer remains our last hope.”
In remarks to Vatican media, Bishop Ferreira Sandramo expressed gratitude for Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, who attended the assembly. “The Holy See and the Dicastery share in our suffering,” he said, while acknowledging the grim reality that “no immediate solutions” appear to be in sight.
The bishop decried both national and international indifference to Cabo Delgado’s plight. “Cities and villages continue to be attacked, increasing the number of refugees. Cabo Delgado seems like a world apart within the country,” he noted. Families, he said, survive only by constantly fleeing, often finding nothing but unsafe, makeshift shelters.
As head of the Justice and Peace Commission of Mozambique’s bishops’ conference, Ferreira Sandramo drew on Pope Leo XIII’s teaching that “the sufferings of our people are the sufferings of the Church itself.” Referring to Mozambique’s Armed Forces Day on September 25, he urged the military to prove itself a true force of protection. “If people do not feel protected, it is normal that they question their authority. This is the moment to ask ourselves what model of armed forces we want for our country and what values we wish to defend,” he said.
Above all, the bishop appealed to the universal Catholic community to respond through prayer. “Cabo Delgado continues to suffer, and in this moment of great trial, we rely on the strength of prayer,” he affirmed.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from L’Osservatore Romano
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