Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, was the site of one of Pope Francis’ largest masses.
Since a pope last visited the mineral-rich but conflict-ridden country, it has been over 37 years.
A million people attended an open-air ceremony at N’dole airport on the pontiff’s second day in Africa.
Approximately half of the population of DR Congo is Catholic, the largest Catholic group in Africa.
During the mass, the Catholic leader urged for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, stating that warring parties should forgive one another and extend “great amnesty of the heart” to their opponents.
Getting rid of “rage and guilt, of every trace of bitterness and hatred” is beneficial, he said.
According to Christopher Lamb, Rome writer for the Catholic magazine The Tablet, Wednesday’s ceremony was expected to be one of the pope’s largest masses ever, second only to one held in the Philippines in 2014.
“This is the future of the church, and the rise of the Catholic Church in Africa is crucial to the future of Catholicism,” he remarked of the expansion of Catholicism in Africa.
Kinshasa mass during Pope Francis’ visit to the DRC
On Tuesday, the Pope criticised “economic colonialism” and met with President Félix Tshisekedi.
He also addressed the tragedy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where minerals have played a central part in almost three decades of armed strife “Leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone! Stop touching Africa! Stop suffocating Africa; it is not a mine or a landscape to be pillaged.”
Due to security concerns, a planned visit to the eastern city of Goma has been canceled. As security forces fight armed rebels in eastern DRC, bloodshed is rising.
According to the UN, six million Democratic Republic of the Congoans have been displaced.
This is one of the world’s greatest groups of displaced people, alongside Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Ukraine.
The majority of displaced people are located in the eastern provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu, and Ituri.
