“We are servants of the people”, Francis’ warning to Congolese bishops

What to say to the bishops of the Democratic Republic of Congo? What message should I send them at the end of a four-day trip haunted by the war that reigns in the east of the country, while the Church is the only solid institution in the DRC, in the face of a weakened state?

These are the questions that Pope Francis tried to answer on Friday, February 3, before the country’s bishops, before flying to South Sudan, where he is to stay until Sunday, February 5.

To the Catholic leaders of this “Church which, like Jesus, wants to dry the tears of its people”, Francis addressed both his encouragement and a warning. “I am grateful to you for the way in which you courageously announce the consolation of the Lord, walking among the people, sharing their sorrows and their hopes”, he insisted, in a tired voice, and visibly marked by his stay in the country.

“Making Your Prophetic Voice Heard”

But Pope Francis also wanted, when meeting the Congolese bishops, to remind them that political commitment should never be their only action. “You too, therefore, are called to continue to make your prophetic voice heard so that consciences feel challenged and that everyone becomes an actor and responsible for a different future”, advised the pope. “But be careful, he continued, this is not a political action”.

Before the Congolese bishops this morning, the pope recalls that the role of a bishop is to be a “pastor”, and not a political leader or an “administrator of property” (photo pool Aigav) pic.twitter.com/sKuAxjn0xR

— LB2S (@LB2S) February 3, 2023

The Congolese bishops are particularly involved in the political field, and have been for years. In 1969, they were among the first to denounce the dictatorial inclinations of Marshal Mobutu’s regime. Much more recently, in 2016, it was they who lobbied for President Joseph Kabila not to amend the constitution to extend his second term beyond what the country’s laws provided. An agreement concluded on the night of New Year’s Eve, in 2016, after Homeric negotiations between the Church and political parties, thus marked the end of the mandate of the president, who effectively retired at the end of two years later.

For the pope, if “Christian prophecy” must indeed be embodied “in multiple political actions”, this should not be “the task of bishops and pastors in general”. Because their role, insisted Francis, “is to announce the Word to awaken consciences, to denounce evil, to comfort those who are afflicted and without hope”.

“Pastors”, “not businessmen”

These criticisms, Pope Francis also extended them with a warning against corporate priests, a common phenomenon in some African countries: “we are pastors and servants of the people, not businessmen! “, thundered the pope, who insisted on the “closeness” and the “testimony” of the bishops towards their people.

“We are pastors, not administrators of property,” Francis improvised, looking up from his text. He invited them to “compassion”, “that is to say to suffer with”, he underlined, to better emphasize the importance of this word.

An eminently political trip

Paradoxically, it is nevertheless an eminently political trip that the pope concluded on Friday, February 3, leaving Kinshasa. In front of political leaders, he did not spare criticism, so much so that the Congolese press made headlines like “François, mordant”. At the Martyrs stadium, Thursday morning, February 2, he asked 65,000 young people to chant the words “No corruption”, before they began chanting slogans against the government.

But for François, these warnings are a direct response to a concern. Although he clearly perceives the political commitment of the bishops, and is aware that it is a force in opposition to the government since the country’s independence in 1960, he is also concerned that Catholic leaders are too drawn in by this commitment to dedicate themselves to their people.

“In our country, the bishops look upwards, towards the political world, but forget to look downwards, that is to say the poor”, affirms a figure very involved in the Church of the country. A perception widely shared by the faithful who sometimes perceive their bishops as politicians, more than as pastors.

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