ROME — Pope Francis has condemned the Islamist massacre of hundreds of civilians in the African nation of Burkina Faso, calling the attack “heinous.”
“I have learned with sorrow that on Saturday 24 August, in the municipality of Barsalogho, in Burkina Faso, hundreds of people, including women and children, were killed and many others injured in a terrorist attack,” the pontiff declared Sunday following his weekly Angelus address.
The Barsalogho assault, which claimed the lives of 300-400 victims, is the deadliest jihadist attack in Burkina Faso’s history.
According to several local media reports, residents of the community of Barsalogho were digging defensive trenches to protect themselves from terrorist attacks, when more than 100 jihadists appeared on motorcycles and opened fire with automatic weapons on civilians and soldiers.
Local sources said that the death toll was so high that it was not possible to bury all the victims within three days.
“In condemning these heinous attacks against human life, I express my closeness to the nation as a whole, and my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims,” the pope said Sunday.
“May the Virgin Mary help the beloved people of Burkina Faso to regain peace and security,” he added.
Barsalogho, a town of 10,000 people in north-central Burkina Faso, has been the target of Islamist attacks nearly thirty times in recent years and has been under jihadist blockade since 2022.
The city has suffered three lethal jihadist attacks in the last month alone.
Bishop Théophile Nare of the diocese of Kaya described the incident as a “tragedy of unprecedented proportions since the beginning of the terrorist attacks.”
In a message addressed to the faithful in the aftermath of the devastating attack, the prelate called for three days of intense prayer to “atone for all attacks on human life” in which the blood of innocent people has been shed.
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