« The chancellery of the Archdiocese of Kinshasa vehemently condemns the degrading treatment that the official airport services subjected His Eminence Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo to as he was en route to Rome, this Sunday, April 14, at noon. », it reads in the statement signed by Abbot Clet Clay Mamvemba, Secretary-Chancellor at the Archdiocese of Kinshasa.
This entity of the Catholic Church considers it damaging if this treatment reserved for the cardinal is connected to his "prophetic stances", notably in his Easter Vigil homily where the Metropolitan Archbishop had criticized "those involved, in any way whatsoever," in the crisis afflicting the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
As a reminder, during his message on Saturday, March 30, 2024, at the Easter Mass, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu had notably denounced the indifference of the competent authorities towards this crisis situation.
According to the head of the Catholic Church in the DRC, the authorities are preoccupied with other matters instead of focusing on the real concerns of the population. He had stated that the DRC is in this state because it does not have an army capable of defending its territorial integrity.
In his speech, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo seemed to voice support for those who accuse the Congolese authorities of committing acts that might incite rebellion, instead of uniting to confront the enemy. The government, through the Minister of Communication and Media, Patrick Muyaya, had asked the Cardinal to "clarify" his statements which seemed, according to the government, to justify joining the ranks of those who have taken up arms under the Congo River Alliance (AFC) aligned with the M23 rebels fighting the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the support of Rwanda. The cardinal had even justified this rebellion by the exclusion of these individuals from sharing in the "cake" that is the DRC or its resources.
Dido Nsapu