Butembo-Beni, 19 April, 2022 / 9:45 pm (ACI Africa).
The Bishop of Butembo-Beni Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has “strongly” condemned the invasion of the Catholic Parish in his Episcopal See that occurred on Easter Sunday.
In an interview with Moto Radio, Butembi-Beni’s Diocesan Radio station, reported Tuesday, April 19, Bishop Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku said that the invasion that was allegedly carried out by Maï-Maï militias was “more than a sacrilege”. He invited those behind the invasion to seek the path of conversion.
On Easter Sunday, April 17, a group of armed Maï-Maï militias reportedly invaded Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Bunyuka located in the Bashu chiefdom, near the town of Butembo, after the first Holy Mass and disrupted the mood of the Easter celebration.
Members of the militia allegedly demanded to have the Priest's cassock and missal and to address the congregation "about the Word of God,” eye witnesses quoted the militiamen as saying.
In the interview with the Diocesan Radio, Bishop Paluku termed the invasion as “very bad news on Easter Sunday.”