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Pope Francis was warmly received Tuesday in Kinshasa, where he began a four-day visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the first leg of his trip to Africa that will also take him to South Sudan. One million people are expected to participate in the mass this Wednesday.
With RFI Special Envoys to Kinshasa, Véronique Gaymard and Alice Mesnard
Tens of thousands of people were already installed at the N’dolo airport this Wednesday morning to welcome Pope Francis before the massive mass.
The atmosphere was already consolidated, with a host and 700 choir members. Religious songs and Congolese rumba. N’dolo airport has been transformed into a huge open-air cathedral where a million people are expected.
Late yesterday a vigil was held with prayers and songs. The government has declared Wednesday morning a public holiday and schools will be closed all day. Thousands of police, military and members of the Republican Guard have been deployed along the route of Pope Francis and on the airport grounds.
A message of peace and comfort
They are waiting for a message of consolation from the Pope, which will give them energy to move forward. The faithful here in Ndolo await a message for the poorest and for the people suffering from the conflict in the east of the country, with new attacks in Ituri, in North and South Kivu.
They hope that he will appeal to the government, to the armed groups in the east and to the neighboring countries to achieve peace and reconciliation. And in this election year, they are also waiting for a message that the elections are held with guarantees.
The former Belgian colony the size of continental Western Europe is the most Catholic country in Africa. It is estimated that about 40% of the country’s 100 million inhabitants are Catholics.
Another 35% of the population is Protestant of various denominations; 9% is Muslim and 10% Kimbanguist, a Christian movement born in the Belgian Congo.
The press applauds a speech without ambiguities
“After political colonialism, an equally enslaving “economic colonialism” has been unleashed,” Pope Francis said Tuesday on the first day of his visit to Kinshasa, who denounced a “predatory” rich world that “benefits from its resources.” .
“Stop suffocating it, because Africa is not a mine to be exploited or a land to be plundered. May Africa be the protagonist of its own destiny”, defended the Pope.
The African press applauds the Pope’s speech without ambiguity. Following the example of WakatSéra in Burkina Faso: “Known for his independence of tone and action, the successor of Saint Peter did not turn the ciborium to tell his crude truths to the predators of an Africa that, better than any other continent, has in hold high the torch of the Catholic religion”.
“He barely walled himself in embellished formulas. Like Jesus, his Lord, who expelled the merchants who had installed themselves in the Temple of Jerusalem, the Pontiff ordered the invaders to leave Africa. Pope Francis has shot at the invaders of the Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo, of course without naming the M23 or Rwanda, much less the obscure Western countries that continue to “take over the Congo”.
