Ouagadougou, 07 August, 2022 / 4:30 pm (ACI Africa).
Very little Christianity is allowed in several villages in Burkina Faso, and where Catholics can attend Holy Mass, Islamist militants invade churches to ensure that men and women sit on separate benches.
In a report that the Catholic Diocese of Fada N’Gourma in Burkina Faso shared with Pontifical and charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, it was established that only about 5 percent of villages served by the Diocese receive pastoral care, and that any pastoral activities are permitted under strict supervision of Islamists.
“In many parts of the diocese Islamist sermons have become regular and any other religious practice is forbidden. In others, Catholic services are still permitted, but militants often enter the chapels to ensure that men and women sit on different benches,” the Diocese of Fada N’Gourma told ACN in a report that the foundation shared with ACI Africa Monday, July 25.
The report that ACN published on July 22 indicates that “Islamic terrorism” has become commonplace in Burkina Faso, and that over 90 percent of the villages in the Diocese of Fada N’Gourma are no longer getting pastoral care.
In the report, ACN makes reference to the murder of over twenty people in an attack in Bourasso, in the Northeast of Burkina Faso, and calls attention to what the foundation describes as “a severe deterioration of the situation” in the Diocese of Fada N’Gourma, in the Eastern part of the West African country, over the past six months.