Photo of Fr. Father Lucien Ambunga, CM – Courtesy of La Prensa
The image of father Lucien Ambunga, missionary of the Congregation of the Mission, receiving the blessing of the Coadjutor Archbishop of Kinshasa, Msgr. Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, after catching Ebola, has jumped into the networks and received multiple expressions of support and affection, appearing in various media from around the globe. Fortunately, Father Lucien is already recovered from the disease.
The photo of a bishop imparting the blessing to a priest quarantined for contracting Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has shaken social networks in recent days.
The image of Father Lucien Ambunga with the Coadjutor Archbishop of Kinshasa, Mons. Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, was published on Twitter by a user identified as Katako Arnold on May 24.
On May 26, Father Ambunga was declared free of Ebola and was able to leave the hospital where he was. The priest is a member of the Congregation of the Mission and parish priest of the Parish of Itipo, in the diocese of Mbandaka-Bikoro, in the north of the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in early May a new outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To date, 50 cases of this disease have been reported, of which 37 have been confirmed.
Rose Mkunu, a doctor who heads a delegation of Caritas Congo in the city of Mbandaka, told the Vatican agency Fides that “the situation is alarming because it is an epidemic of urban Ebola, unlike the previous.”
“Caritas is doing everything possible to raise awareness and inform the community and religious leaders about the disease, both on how to protect themselves and how to prevent contagion, but we are limited in our means,” he said.
“Given the nature of the disease and the lack of information, the risk of its spread is to be feared in a city of 1.2 million inhabitants and in neighboring cities,” the President of the Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENC), Bishop Marcel Utembi Tapa, said in a statement.
The WHO explained that Ebola is a serious disease and “often fatal if not treated”. This causes fever, muscle aches, vomiting, and diarrhea, and can lead to hemorrhages.
It is transmitted from wild animals to people and is spread through “the transmission from person to person”.
Finally, Bishop Utembi asked the faithful “not to give in to the fear and stigmatization that could hinder the response to the epidemic.”
Source: Aciprensa
This version of the post first appeared on FamVin.
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