Home Breaking In Kinshasa, the pope awaited by the crowd for a giant mass

In Kinshasa, the pope awaited by the crowd for a giant mass

01.02.2023

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Songs, dances, cheers and banners: a huge crowd gathered in Kinshasa on Wednesday to attend a giant mass by Pope Francis, on the second day of his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the tarmac of N’Dolo airport, in the east of the capital, for this open-air mass which will be presided over by the Argentine Jesuit at 9:30 a.m. (08:30 GMT). Many faithful arrived on Tuesday evening to spend the night there.

“When the pope (John Paul II) came for the first time it was history, I was 15 years old, today I am 55 years old, so attending a first papal mass is very important”, told AFP Adrien Louka, who arrived before dawn.

“As our country has many problems, it is reconciliation that we seek and the pope will give a message so that the countries around us leave us in peace!” He adds, wearing a colorful shirt with the logo of the papal visit on the back.

In a very festive atmosphere, about 700 choristers repeated the animated songs while dancing and waving flags before this religious celebration, while the crowd poured in through the twenty access points to the site under a bright sun and an important security device.

“I’m sick, but I know that since the Pope is here, everything will be fine,” hopes Eulalie Nzinga, a 63-year-old civil servant, who came with her 13-year-old granddaughter.

Arriving in the capital of the largest Catholic country in Africa on Tuesday, Jorge Bergoglio denounced the “economic colonialism” which “is unleashed” in this country with an immense wealth and fertile soil, but whose two third 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 by tens of thousands of people massed along the main avenues of the megalopolis of some 15 million inhabitants.

Another highlight of this stage in Kinshasa, the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church will meet Wednesday afternoon victims of violence in the east of the country.

François was initially due to go to Goma, in North Kivu, a Congolese province bordering Rwanda 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 stage, which was included in the trip scheduled for July 2022 and then postponed because of the 86-year-old Pope’s knee pain, was finally canceled due to security risks, deemed too great.

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.