Pope Francis on Tuesday criticized those he said have been keen on stifling progress in Africa, and especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, telling the rich world that the people in the continent are more precious than the minerals in the earth beneath them.
Speaking shortly
after he arrived in Kinshasa, the Catholic pontiff said the region is not only
suffering internally with conflict but also from what he called “a terrible
form of exploitation”.
"While your
Congolese struggle to safeguard your dignity and territorial integrity against
the despicable attempts to fragment the country, I come to you, in the name of
Jesus, as a pilgrim of reconciliation and peace".
"It is tragic
that Africa still suffers from various forms of exploitation," he said.
According to him, after "political colonialism, an
"equally enslaving economic colonialism has been unleashed".
Get your hands off the Democratic Republic of Congo, get your
hands off Africa. Stop smothering Africa; she is not a mine to be exploited or
a land to be robbed," the pope said.
Pope Francis
Tuesday arrived at N'djili International Airport at 2.40pm and was greeted by a
large crowd of Catholic clergy and some members of the government led by Prime
Minister Sama Lukonde, while President Félix Tshisekedi was waiting for him at
the Palais de la Nation (State House), 25 kilometers from N'djili airport.
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| Pope Francis, who arrived in DR Congo on January 31, 2023, delivers a speech in the garden of the Palace of the Nation in Gombe, Kinshasa. With him is DRC President Felix Tshisekedi |
KINSHASA AT A GLANCE!
Along the streets of Kinshasa, the Pope received a warm welcome
from the people of Kinshasa, who lined up Lumumba Boulevard, greeting the
pontiff as he passed.
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo led the masses on this welcome.
"I am happy to be here, in this land so
beautiful, so vast and so luxuriant, which embraces, to the north, the
equatorial forest, in the center and towards the south, the high plateaus and
the wooded savannahs, to the east, the hills, mountains, volcanoes, and lakes,
to the west, other great expanses of water, with the Congo River joining the
ocean," the Pope said in his message, which was delivered in Italian.
"I have longed to be here," he told President
Tshisekedi in the garden of the Palais de la Nation.
Before the pope
spoke, President Tshisekedi welcomed a speech that described the situation
in the country, highlighting the war that is currently shaking the DRC.
The papal's six-day trip to Africa will lead to the youngest East African Nation South Sudan Later in the week.
