Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for an international response to a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, telling crowds in St. Peter’s Square that the global community should work closely with local communities to prevent further loss of life.
Who Gets Hit First
Leo said during the Angelus prayer that he was thinking in particular of people affected by the outbreak. The words came with the usual solemnity from the center of Catholic power, but the facts behind them are blunt: Ebola is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it is causing many victims. The pope framed the crisis as one that demands action from the international community, while also naming local communities as part of preventive work.
He said, “I often think about the Democratic Republic of Congo, in particular because of the spread of the Ebola epidemic, which unfortunately is causing many victims. I encourage a response from the international community that also involves local communities in preventive work to save so many human lives.”
That line matters. The people closest to the outbreak are not being treated as spectators in their own survival. Leo’s own words point to a hierarchy that usually runs the other way, with outside institutions arriving late, speaking loudly, and claiming authority over the response. Here, at least in the pope’s formulation, local communities are supposed to be involved in the work of prevention. Whether the apparatus that governs global health actually hands over any real power is another question entirely.
The Mine Collapse and the Same Old Neglect
Leo also offered prayers for victims of a mine collapse in Zamboye, in the Central African Republic, where more than 100 people have reportedly died after an artisanal gold mine collapsed. He said, “I am also close to the population of the Central African Republic that mourns the victims of the collapse that occurred in a mine in Zamboye. May the Lord welcome those who have lost their lives and support the commitment to guarantee the safety and legality of mining sites.”
That phrasing carries its own grim outline of control. Safety and legality are the words institutions reach for after the ground has already given way and people are dead. More than 100 people have reportedly died, and the pope’s response points toward the same structures that keep dangerous mining sites operating until catastrophe forces the issue into public view.
The collapse in Zamboye sits alongside the Ebola outbreak as part of the same regional burden: communities across central Africa facing infectious disease outbreaks and deadly, unsafe mining conditions. The people at the bottom keep paying for systems they didn’t design and don’t control.
What Power Calls Care
Leo’s remarks came as communities across central Africa face multiple humanitarian challenges. He also remembered communities in central Italy ahead of Monday’s 10th anniversary of the 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck areas of Lazio, Umbria and Marche, killing around 300 people. During his Angelus address, Leo said he was praying for those communities as they marked a decade since the disaster.
The pope’s appeal to the international community sounds broad, even generous. But the structure underneath it is familiar: distant institutions speak, local people endure, and the language of response arrives after the damage is already done. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the outbreak is still spreading. In the Central African Republic, more than 100 people are dead after a mine collapse. In central Italy, communities are still marking a decade since an earthquake killed around 300 people.
The names and numbers change. The pattern doesn’t.