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Arrived Tuesday in the capital of the Republic of Congo (DRC), the largest Catholic country in Africa, the pope must celebrate a mass on Wednesday which could bring together more than a million people. The spiritual leader of the Catholic Church should then meet in the afternoon with victims of violence in the east of the country.
It is a day full of fervor which is announced for the Congolese. Pope Francis is expected Wednesday 1is February for a giant mass in Kinshasa which could bring together more than a million people, on the second day of his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC).
From Tuesday evening, the faithful flocked to Ndolo airport, in the east of the capital, to watch all night until the open-air mass presided by the Argentine Jesuit at 9:30 a.m. (8:30 GMT). .
“I come to the wake to be able to attend mass, because I’m not used to waking up very early…”, Franciane, 24, told AFP. The faithful have been warned: at 7:30 a.m., access to the site will be closed.
“I brought some water to wash my face and a change of clothes for tomorrow,” continues the young woman.
While religious music resounds and the rain seems to threaten, Véronique is also preparing to spend the night in Ndolo, with her baby. “I can’t miss this blessing from the pope, that’s why I’m going to watch with my child,” she said.
Patrick, 31, a chorister at Notre-Dame de Fatima parish, sits alone and listens to music on his cell phone. He hopes for the help of “God, through the intercession of the Holy Father, in this situation of war in which” the RDC has been diving for years.
“Stop suffocating Africa”
Arrived Tuesday in the capital of the largest Catholic country in Africa, Jorge Bergoglio denounced “economic colonialism” which “is unleashed” in this country with an immense wealth and fertile soil, where two thirds of the approximately 100 million inhabitants live below the poverty line.
“Stop suffocating Africa: it is not a mine to be exploited nor a land to be plundered”, launched the pope in front of the authorities and the diplomatic corps at the presidential palace.
A few hours earlier, he had been greeted with popular jubilation with cheers, banners and flags by tens of thousands of people massed along the main avenues of the megalopolis of some 15 million inhabitants.
Resurgence of the M23 armed group
Another highlight of this stage in Kinshasa, the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church will meet Wednesday afternoon with victims of violence in the east of the country.
François was initially to go to Goma, in North Kivu, a Congolese province bordering Rwanda, which has been plagued by numerous violence and the resurgence of the armed group M23 which has conquered large swaths of the territory in recent months.
But this step, which appeared in the trip scheduled for July 2022 then postponed due to 86-year-old pope’s knee painwas finally removed because of the security risks, which were considered too high.
Eastern DRC has dozens of other armed groups, including Islamist rebels who target civilians.
On Tuesday, the pope urged the Congolese not to “slide into tribalism and confrontation” and “encouraged the ongoing peace processes” so that “commitments are kept”.
He also mentioned the environment, education, social and health issues, themes to which he should return during his next speeches.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the pope will deliver his third and final speech of the day to representatives of charities.
This is Francis’ fortieth international trip since his election in 2013, and his fifth to the African continent. After Kinshasa, on Friday he will join Juba, capital of South Sudan, the youngest state in the world and among the poorest on the planet.
With AFP
>> To see on France 24: LE JOURNAL DE L’AFRIQUE – In Kinshasa, Pope Francis denounces “unleashed economic colonialism”