Ebola Virus: Pope Leo XIV Calls for International Community Mobilization

This Sunday, August 23, 2026, at the Vatican, following the Angelus prayer, the Pope launched an appeal regarding the DRC, which is hit by a steadily advancing Ebola outbreak, particularly in the east of the country.

​"In my prayers, I often think of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially because of the spread of the Ebola epidemic, which is unfortunately claiming numerous victims," declared Pope Leo XIV, who simultaneously called upon the international community to act.

Pope Leo XIV’s appeal follows a severe deterioration of the situation on the ground in the DRC. The Ebola virus continues to claim lives, and according to Congolese authorities and the WHO, this outbreak is the deadliest in the epidemiological history of the DRC, as response teams struggle to contain the transmission.

The toll continues to mount: updated figures from the National Institute of Public Health report 5,458 confirmed cases and 2,606 deaths. The outbreak spans 56 health zones across six provinces: North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele, and Tshopo.

A glimmer of hope emerged when the Congolese government received an initial batch of 16,520 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine on Friday, August 21, 2026, at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa. This delivery is part of a total allocation of 70,000 doses intended to bolster the health response.

Meanwhile, civil society groups in the affected provinces continue to denounce the precarious working conditions facing personnel on the front lines of the Ebola response. Millions of dollars disbursed by international partners have failed to produce tangible results on the ground, and the transparency surrounding these funds remains murky.

Political figures hailing from the eastern DRC have also begun raising their voices to denounce the lack of accountability in the management of funds dedicated to fighting Ebola.