Quelimane – “The situation continues to deteriorate and violence is spreading throughout the north of the country,” said Osório Citora Afonso , Bishop of the Diocese of Quelimane, upon returning from a pastoral visit to the “Nossa Senhora de Fátima di Bajone” mission, one of the 28 parishes in his diocese. The bishop expressed concern about the serious crimes committed by jihadist forces during the night of Thursday to Friday, October 10, who burned down a church in the north of the country, kidnapped minors, and left victims in the province of Cabo Delgado. “Since the Islamic State began raging,” he reported, “people must have an authorization card to access any services, otherwise they risk their lives.”
“Although the northern regions of the African country have been suffering from radical Islamism for eight years, and according to estimates, more than one million people have been displaced and six thousand killed, not much has been said about this,” Bishop Osòrio laments. Now, the media is reporting on it, the bishop noted, especially since Pope Leo XIV, at the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, August 24, expressed his solidarity with the people of Cabo Delgado, who are “victims of a situation of insecurity and violence that continues to claim lives and displace people.” Equally important, according to the bishop, was the speech by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, at the 80th United Nations General Assembly on September 29. Among the particular situations, he mentioned Cabo Delgado, which, along with the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, is one of the unstable areas affected by the threat of jihadism.
Regarding his pastoral visit, the bishop, who took office in the north of the country on August 31, 2025, said that “it was not an easy visit, starting with the roads we had to travel.” “I chose to make my first pastoral visit to an area of problems and challenges: Bajone is the parish in the most Islamized area, and to which I want to dedicate my pastoral priority,” he affirmed. “The roads are unpaved and full of dangers, especially in the parish of Bajone, which includes 140 parishes and is located 270 km from Quelimane,” he reported. In addition to the central mission in Bajone, the bishop visited three pastoral areas, each with approximately 50 communities: Tapata, Macura, and Tapaliwa. “I requested an audience with the Muslim leaders, who initially received me with great suspicion,” the bishop stated. “Before, there was peaceful coexistence… but now the trend is toward the Islamization of the country,” he lamented. “After our visit, however, the Muslim leaders thanked me because it was the first time a meeting and visit with the Muslims had taken place,” he affirmed. “I remember that we found about 45 mosques in a 40-km stretch, allrecently built.”
At the beginning of his pastoral ministry in Quelimane, the bishop recounts, he drove to the diocese, traveling 1,700 km, “in two days, not from the airport, but from a suburb 400 km from the cathedral, where about 100 people from the community were waiting for me. From there, I drove to the center.”
At the end of the conversation, Osório expressed his happiness at having participated in the Jubilee of Missionaries and Migrants, which took place in Rome on October 4 and 5 in the presence of thousands of participants from over 100 countries.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.