Pope Harps on Forgiveness

By Bernadette Idalu

Pope Francis during a concelebrated Mass

today, February 1, 2023, called on Congolese to forgive those who have harmed them during his first main event in Africa, dedicated to peace and reconciliation.

The Mass with an estimated crowd of one million communicants who defied weather, staying awake through the night before the Mass at the airfields of Kinshasa’s Ndolo Airport, singing and dancing before the first papal visit, since "St. John Paul II's" last trip in 1985, cheered wildly as Pope Francis was taken through the airfields in a Pope mobile.

Addressing the mammoth crowd whom he greeted with Lingala, one of four national languages of Congo widely spoken in the capital, Kinshasa, they listened attentively as he urged them in his homily to open their hearts to forgiveness, citing the example of Jesus Christ who forgave those who betrayed him.

Focusing on the person of Christ during his homily, he said, “He showed them his wounds, because forgiveness is born from wounds...It is born when our wounds do not leave scars of hatred, but become the means by which we make room for others and accept their weaknesses. Our weakness becomes an opportunity; and forgiveness becomes the path to peace.”

Pointing to decades of violence especially in Congo's east which has forced millions to flee, Francis maintained that forgiveness didn't mean pretending that nothing bad happened. The act of forgiveness he said, rather creates an, “Amnesty of the heart; what great good it does us to cleanse our hearts of anger and remorse, of every trace of resentment and hostility.” 

The morning Mass was Francis’ first big event in Congo after he arrived on Tuesday. In his opening speech to government, he condemned the century long plundering of Africa’s mineral and natural wealth by foreign powers.

The crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has so far forced some 5.7 million people to flee their homes, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Congo where some 26.4 million people face hunger, according to the World Food Program.

Eastern Congo has more than 120 armed groups, spiked by the resurgence of the M23 group in 2021. Rebels have captured swaths of land and are accused by the United Nations and rights groups of committing atrocities against civilians.

Francis repeated his call for peace during his meeting with victims of the conflict with a joint call for the victims to pardon their assailants, according to Vatican organizers. Roughly half of Congo's 105 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics.