AFRICA/DR CONGO - Kinshasa: Police thwart threats by supporters of the ruling party against Catholic and Protestant churches

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The religious services in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), both in the Catholic parishes and in the Protestant communities of the Church of Christ in Congo (Église du Christ au Congo, ECC), took place last Sunday, February 16, generally without disturbances. Only in the Catholic parish of "St. Theresa" in Nd'jili, a municipality in the Kinshasa district, some demonstrators tried to disrupt the mass, but were prevented from entering the church by the intervention of the police. The Kinshasa police had previously taken measures to ensure the peaceful conduct of the religious services. The measure was taken after activists from the ruling Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party threatened to attack and vandalize Catholic parishes and Protestant gatherings during religious services on Sunday 16 February. This was in protest against the meetings that the leaders of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Congo (CENCO) and the ECC had with Corneille Nangaa in Goma, in North Kivu province, and with Paul Kagame in Kigali, Rwanda.
Corneille Nangaa is the coordinator of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), the political wing of the rebel movement M23, which has taken control of Goma (capital of North Kivu province) and Bukavu (capital of South Kivu province) and is threatening to march on Kinshasa to overthrow President Félix Tshisekedi. Paul Kagame is the President of Rwanda, who is considered the sponsor of the M23. The joint delegation of the Catholic and Protestant Churches presented the "Social Pact for Coexistence in the Democratic Republic of Congo" (see Fides, 13/2/2025), which aims to help resolve the crisis that has been going on for over 30 years in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 18/2/2025)

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