For the third time in his pontificate, Pope Francis is visiting Africa from January 31 to February 5, 2023. He has chosen the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, two countries ravaged by years of armed conflict. First in Kinshasa, the pope will follow in the footsteps of John Paul II, who visited the country, then called Zaire, in 1980 and 1985. He was notably welcomed there by one of his relatives, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, the Archbishop of Kinshasa whom he appointed to the Council of Cardinals responsible for helping him in his reform of the Vatican Curia. Thirty-eight years later and in view of the strong historic commitment of the Catholic Church in politics, the expectations are immense. Especially since the country which is preparing to vote for the presidential election in less than a year is experiencing an unprecedented security crisis in the East since a new M23 offensive. Conflicts are also escalating in North, South Kivu and Ituri. On the political level, not a day goes by without a new corruption case breaking out and above all the authorities have entered into a showdown with neighboring Rwanda.
Beyond this explosive context, it should be noted that with nearly 45 million faithful, the DRC is the African country with the largest number of Catholics. It is also a country that has a unique history with the Church, where it has accompanied the consolidation of democratic consciousness.
Originally scheduled for July 2022, this visit had been postponed due to knee pain in the 86-year-old pope, who uses a wheelchair. But several sources had invoked security risks in Goma, in the east of the DRC, a stage finally removed.
In total, Jorge Bergoglio will give twelve speeches and will meet, in addition to the authorities, victims of violence, displaced persons, members of the clergy and representatives of charities. A mass will be given on February 1, in the heart of Kinshasa, in the airfield dedicated to light aircraft since an accident in 1996, and located within the Ndolo military airport.
Among the themes expected are the challenge of global warming and deforestation, education, social and health issues and support for the Christian community, said the spokesperson for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, assuring that " no specific threat" posed to the pope's safety.
But it is the call for peace that will be the major issue in these two countries ravaged by conflict: armed violence for a quarter of a century in North Kivu, in the DRC, and a bloody civil war in Sudan. South, which have pushed millions of people onto the roads.
The DRC is described as a "geological scandal" as its basement is full of wealth (copper, cobalt, gold, diamonds, uranium, coltan, tin...). The DRC also has enormous hydroelectric potential, ranking first among African countries, and has 80 million hectares of arable land.
However, for various reasons, between conflicts and mismanagement, two thirds of the approximately 100 million inhabitants live on less than 2.15 dollars a day, the level set as the international poverty line, according to the World Bank.
Despite its multiple resources, "the Congo also embodies social injustice, the scandal of underdevelopment and poverty," said Samuel Pommeret, project manager at the Catholic NGO CCFD-Terre Solidaire for the Great Lakes region. “The pope will also be able to deliver a message for the economic actors who benefit from these riches. »
With more than 2.34 million square kilometers, the DRC is 80 times larger than Belgium, the former colonial power. It is the 2nd largest country in Africa after Algeria and, according to estimates, the 4th most populous African state after Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt.
It is also one of the most multi-ethnic and multilingual countries in Africa, with some 250 listed ethnic groups, mainly Bantu. The DRC has French as its official language but also four national languages (Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba, Swahili) and around 200 local languages. "National unity" resisted nonetheless, despite a brief separatist adventure from wealthy Katanga in the 1960s and unrest in the east of the country.
The country has experienced two wars in its recent history: the first, in 1996-1997, resulted in the overthrow of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, the second, between 1998 and 2003, involved nine African countries, around thirty armed groups and failed bring about the implosion of the country.
The situation has since stabilized in most of the territory, but the eastern provinces, bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, have been plagued by violence from numerous armed groups for almost thirty years, against the background of the battle for the control of wealth between communities and neighboring countries.
Eastern DRC has some 120 armed groups, including Islamist rebels targeting civilians. This visit also comes two weeks after a deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group in a Pentecostal church in North Kivu.
"We are very happy to receive him, I expect a message of peace from him, at a time when the DRC is tormented", confides Emmanuelle Wemu, a faithful who hopes for a "reconciliation with Rwanda", accused by the DRC of supporting the M23 rebels.
"The pope's voice will surely bring great encouragement, but also a boost to the political class to solve the country's problems", explains to AFP Mauro Garofalo, responsible for international relations of the Sant'Egidio community, involved in poverty alleviation and conflict resolution.
The secular nature of the state has been enshrined in the Constitution since 1974. There is no state religion and everyone is free to practice the religion of their choice. According to estimates, the country has about 40% Catholics (49% according to the Vatican), 35% Protestants or affiliated with Revival Churches, 9% Muslims, 10% Kimbanguists (Christian Church born in Congo).
It is hardly conceivable to call oneself an atheist in the DRC, where religion permeates society, education, public life, politics... A mark dating back to the Belgian colonial period, with, among other things, the education entrusted to Catholic missionaries.
Since colonial times, the Catholic Church has always had the role of "counter-power" in the DRC, and the voice of the bishops echoes far beyond the circle of Catholics. Very early on, it became closer to the local elite, so that the first fathers of independence came out of the circles of reflection created around the Catholic Church.
This permanent intervention of the Church in political life has regularly provoked tensions between it and the various regimes which have followed one another since independence in 1960.
In 1974, under the reign of dictator Mobutu (1965-1997), the secular nature of the state was enshrined in the Constitution. But the Church of Zaire (former name of the DRC), through its bishops, continued to play a leading role, managing in critical periods to impose a consensus at the national level.
During the troubled period of the 1990s, Mgr Laurent Monsengwo, then Archbishop of Kisangani (North-East), was at the center of the political negotiations that opened the country to a multiparty system.
In 2006, for Congo's first democratic presidential elections, the church led the independent national electoral commission and provided election observation.
Ten years later, in 2016, at the end of the second term of former President Joseph Kabila (2001-2018), it is still the Church that will accompany the people to demand respect for the constitutional deadline in the organization new elections.
The repression of demonstrations initiated by movements close to the Church has caused dozens of deaths across the country.
Criticism of the results of the December 2018 presidential election and then the controversy over the appointment of one of Félix Tshisekedi's relatives as head of the electoral commission have thrown a wedge between the current regime and the episcopate.
If Africa is the continent where Catholicism is progressing, the problems are multiple. The clergy is regularly splashed by numerous scandals. In the DRC, financial scandals, sex scandals, pedophilia, priests who have children, are not lacking.
But, above all, for about forty years, the Evangelical and Pentecostal Churches, known as "revival", coming from the United States, have sprouted like mushrooms in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an immense country of Christian tradition offering today still fertile ground for their expansion. "Their proliferation is explained by the crisis, political and social", analysis for AFP Gauthier Musenge Mwanza, research professor in the sociology department of the University of Kinshasa.
Mobutu Sese Seko, in power from 1965 to 1997, could no longer stand the Catholic Church standing up to him. To reduce his audience with the population, the dictator brought to the former Zaire evangelical pastors whose activities he encouraged and financed. "Anyone could create a Church", without any conditions of training or legal framework, laments the sociologist.
The number of these Churches exploded from the 1990s onwards, with enormous popularity among poor, unemployed populations with no future prospects. More or less self-proclaimed, empathetic, well-spoken pastors, reverends, bishops, archbishops, prophets and apostles, dressed as "sappers" and owning television channels, make promises of a better life.
Make money, get married, travel to Europe? It is enough to pray to Jesus, dance and sing, and to give dollars to the preachers, quips Gauthier Musenge.
Some faithful who had deserted the Catholic Church for these more attractive chapels have since returned to its bosom, having found that miracles were slow in coming. These churches themselves are undergoing "crises, linked to the departure of their founding fathers", believes political scientist Christian Ndombo Moleka. Leaders are also "challenged in their conduct, their morality, their relationship with money, their political alignment", he continues.
Despite everything, the Revival Churches continue to attract crowds. Their number is difficult to establish, but last year, an MP wanted the authorities to close 10,000, criticizing according to him in terms of business, deception and scam. "In revival churches, and among Catholics for that matter, there are fakes, wolves, dishonest people, who take advantage of people's misery," admits Emie Kutino, "bishop" of the "Army" church. of victory".
- Kenya, Uganda and Central African Republic -
Jorge Bergoglio made his first trip to Africa in November 2015, a visit under high security centered on a message of peace, social justice and dialogue with Islam.
In the Central African Republic, a country torn apart by intercommunal violence, the pope makes a strong symbolic gesture by going to the central mosque in Bangui, and opens the "holy door" of the cathedral as a sign of reconciliation.
- Egypt: In April 2017, the Argentinian Jesuit makes a two-day visit to Cairo to mark his closeness to the largest Christian community in the Middle East, scarred by terrorist attacks.
He also reaches out to Muslims, alongside the great Sunni Imam of Al-Azhar, and advocates ecumenical dialogue by meeting the Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II.
- Morocco: Invited by King Mohammed VI, the pope travels in March 2019 to Morocco, a Muslim country advocating interreligious dialogue.
His visit is marked by calls for migrant rights, religious tolerance and freedom of conscience. He also warns Christians against any temptation to "proselytize", before celebrating a high mass in Rabat.
- Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius:
In September 2019, the leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics is on a tour of the Indian Ocean, visiting the very poor Mozambique and Madagascar, but also the tourist island of Mauritius, where he pleads for peace and social justice.
In Madagascar, 30 years after the last papal visit made by John Paul II, Francis raises a cry of alarm in the face of deforestation and celebrates a mass in front of a million faithful in the capital Antananarivo.
