The fervor and the joy were read in the eyes and the fiery greetings of the tens of thousands of people who had massaged on Tuesday, avenue Lumumba, where the sovereign pontiff speaks.
by Sarah Belouezane
Above all, don’t miss anything. Trying as much as possible to see your hand, the face, perhaps to capture the gaze of this pope who decided to come and visit them for three days, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The fervor and the joy were read in the eyes and the fiery greetings of the tens of thousands of people who had massaged on Tuesday January 31, avenue Lumumba, between the airport and the presidential palace of Kinshasa, where the Sovereign pontiff.
The head of the Catholic Church was expected in this disturbed country, whose inhabitants thought their forgotten sufferings, relegated to the background by perhaps more recent wars, also closer to the Western world. Pope Francis, who was originally to come in July 2022, had to postpone an important trip for him because of his state of health. The Congolese who hoped for the visit had to take their pain in patience.
Jorge Bergoglio, who was 86 years old on December 17, reiterated him on the plane: he would also have wanted to go to Goma, capital of a state, Kivu, prey to particularly deadly troubles since several years. The deterioration of the situation since the end of 2022 prevented him from going there. Never mind, Tuesday, the sovereign pontiff offered himself a invigorating crowd bath in his papamobile before going to the presidential palace. Throughout the path, Kinshasa were standing on the terraces and the roofs of the buildings, on the concrete blocks separating the two tracks, before running towards the convoy where it was possible.
“Stop suffocating Africa”
Once at the palace, it is also his “proximity” that François assured the Kinois in particular and the Congolese in general, during a speech delivered shortly after a brief meeting on camera with the president Félix Tshisekedi. He who hopes to attract the attention of the world first to the DRC then to the very young Sudan in the South, independent since 2011 and victim of a civil war for more than a decade, said “coming in the name of Jesus as A pilgrim of reconciliation and peace “.
The Argentinian pope deplored with fairly harsh words the situation of the country which fights to “safeguard” his “dignity” and “his territorial integrity against the despicable attempts at fragmentation”. He has enjoined the Congolese to take their destiny in hand: “Courage, brother and sister Congolese. Get up, take up your dignity in your hands, your vocation to keep in harmony and peace the house you live”.
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