EWTN News reports that the “Catholic” Diocese of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has issued Ebola prevention directives following the declaration of a health emergency. Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele, through Chancellor Father Christian Kisonia, mandated measures including mandatory handwashing before Mass, use of chlorinated water, and limiting physical contact with symptomatic individuals. The outbreak, linked to the Bundibugyo strain, has also led to the postponement of Uganda’s Martyrs’ Day celebrations. These measures, while addressing a temporal health crisis, reveal the neo-church’s characteristic reduction of the Faith to naturalistic concerns, completely ignoring the supernatural order and the true remedies for sin and pestilence.
A Diocese Obedient to Caesar, Silent on Sin
The communiqué from the Diocese of Goma, as reported by EWTN News, focuses exclusively on hygienic precautions: avoiding physical contact, frequent handwashing, use of sanitizers, and reporting cases to health facilities. The directive that handwashing before Mass “is mandatory” for all worshippers, with parishes instructed to provide “washbasins with chlorinated water and soap,” is particularly emblematic. While hygiene is a prudent temporal measure, the elevation of such a directive to a “mandatory” prerequisite for approaching the Holy Sacrifice, without any corresponding emphasis on the state of grace, confession, or the supernatural reverence due to the Real Presence, is a profound distortion.
This approach reflects the post-conciliar church’s systemic apostasy, where the supernatural is eclipsed by the natural. The Church has always taught that pestilence, like all calamities, is a consequence of sin and a call to repentance (cf. Numbers 16:46-50; 2 Samuel 24:15-17; St. Augustine, *City of God*, I.8-10). The primary remedy for pestilence is not chlorinated water but the sacraments, prayer, fasting, and true conversion of heart. The complete silence on these means—on the necessity of being in the state of grace to receive Holy Communion worthily, on the efficacy of the Most Holy Sacrifice for the remission of sins and the appeasement of Divine Justice—exposes the modernist clergy’s abandonment of their sacred duty. They become mere administrators of temporal welfare, indistinguishable from secular health officials.
The “Martyrs’ Day” Postponement: A Symptom of Naturalism
The article notes that the Ebola outbreak has forced the postponement of Uganda’s Martyrs’ Day celebrations, with the Uganda Episcopal Conference encouraging dioceses and parishes to “celebrate the day with the guidance of the diocesan bishop and the relevant government authorities.” This is a scandalous capitulation to secular authority and a betrayal of the martyrs’ witness. The Uganda Martyrs died rather than renounce their faith or comply with immoral commands (cf. the accounts of St. Charles Lwanga and his companions). Their feast day is a celebration of supernatural grace triumphing over the fear of death and the commands of a pagan king.
To postpone such a celebration due to a temporal disease, while offering no call to imitate their heroic virtue in the face of spiritual death (sin), reveals a church that has lost its understanding of martyrdom and the supernatural. The “guidance of… relevant government authorities” is prioritized over the guidance of the Holy Ghost and the unchanging liturgical calendar. This is the logical outcome of the conciliar revolution’s false ecumenism and its reduction of the Church’s mission to social and humanitarian concerns, as condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors (Proposition 19, 20, 24, 27).
The Neo-Church’s Abandonment of the Supernatural Order
The entire report is characterized by a profound silence on the supernatural order. There is no mention of:
- The necessity of sacramental confession for those in mortal sin before receiving Holy Communion (Council of Trent, Session XIII, Chapter 7, Canon 11).
- The efficacy of the Most Holy Sacrifice as a propitiatory offering for sins (Council of Trent, Session XXII, Chapter 2).
- The power of prayer, fasting, and almsdeeds to avert God’s judgments (cf. Joel 2:12-17; 2 Chronicles 7:14; St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice, Book IV, Chapter 11).
- The intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, especially in times of pestilence (cf. the Litany of the Saints, the Stella Coeli prayer).
- The reality that pestilence is a consequence of sin and a call to national and personal conversion (cf. Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas: “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior”).
This silence is not accidental; it is the hallmark of modernism, which “explains” all things by natural causes and denies the supernatural (cf. Lamentabili sane exitu, Propositions 1, 55, 56). The neo-church, having embraced the world, can no longer distinguish between the City of God and the City of Man. Its “bishops” and “priests” act as agents of the World Health Organization, not as successors of the Apostles.
The Duty of the Faithful: Rejecting the Counterfeit
The faithful must recognize that the directives from the Diocese of Goma, while perhaps materially prudent, are spiritually bankrupt. They come from a structure that has long since abandoned the true Faith, as evidenced by its acceptance of the heretical Vatican II documents, its promotion of ecumenism, religious liberty, and the cult of man. The “Catholic” Diocese of Goma is part of the conciliar sect, which, as the Defense of Sedevacantism demonstrates, has lost its authority due to the manifest heresy of its leaders.
In times of pestilence, the true Church has always turned to God, not to Caesar. The faithful must seek out true priests who offer the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in its integrity, who preach the necessity of confession and conversion, and who understand that the primary battle is not against a virus but against sin and the devil. The neo-church’s measures are a distraction from the real crisis: the apostasy of the clergy and the spiritual ruin of the faithful.
As Pope Pius IX declared in Quas Primas (referenced in the encyclical of the same name by his successor), “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The Ebola outbreak, like all calamities, is a call to recognize Christ the King and to repent. The neo-church’s response—mandatory handwashing and obedience to health authorities—is a blasphemous substitution of human prudence for divine grace, a final proof of its complete apostasy from the Catholic Faith.
Source:
DR Congo diocese issues Ebola prevention measures after health emergency declaration (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 21.05.2026