• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis is welcomed by Prime Minister Sama Lukonde as he arrives at the international airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Jan. 31, 2023. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope arrives in Congo after praying on flight for migrants

January 31, 2023
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News

KINSHASA, Congo (CNS) — After flying across the equator, Pope Francis was welcomed warmly — in every sense — to Congo where Catholics make up the majority of the population and where, for decades, the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of efforts to bring peace, education and health care to the people.

With a small crowd cheering and a boy and girl offering him flowers, the pope arrived at the airport. But the real welcome came on the road leading into the city where thousands of people stood and cheered.

During the seven-hour flight from Rome to Kinshasa Jan. 31, the pope told reporters he was happy finally to be able to make the trip, even though “I had wanted to go to Goma” in the east, “but with the war it was not possible.”

Dancers perform as Pope Francis arrives at the international airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Jan. 31, 2023. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Before leaving his residence at the Vatican, Pope Francis met with nine refugees from Congo and South Sudan, where he will travel Feb. 3. The refugees are assisted in Rome by the Jesuit Refugee Service’s Centro Astalli.

About two hours into the flight, when the chartered plane was flying over the Sahara Desert, the pope led everyone on the plane in a moment of silent prayer for all those who, “seeking a bit of well-being, a bit of freedom,” felt forced to try to cross the desert “but did not make it.”

Too often, he said, they end up being thrown into “lagers,” detention centers in Libya, “and suffer there. Let us pray for them.”

Leaving Italy, the pope sent a telegram to Italian President Sergio Mattarella explaining that he was making the trip “moved by a deep desire to meet brothers and sisters in the faith and the inhabitants of those dear nations, bringing a message of peace and reconciliation.”

In addition to cardinals from the Secretariat of State, the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Pope Francis included in his official entourage Congolese Sister Rita Mboshu Kongo, a theologian and member of the Daughters of Mary Most Holy.

The pope has referred to Sister Mboshu Kongo as the “bishop” of the Congolese community in Rome “because the mission of a bishop is to serve” and that is what she does.

A bishop’s role, she told Vatican News on the eve of the trip, “is not to command and give orders, but to say to the others, ‘Let’s get up and walk together.'”

She said she thought the pope invited her to join the entourage for some on-the-job training, as if to say, “‘Look, daughter, at how I act, and you must do the same with your brothers and your sisters.’ I have so much to learn.”

“For us, Pope Francis is an untiring missionary, a card-carrying evangelizer who is visiting our country to pray with and for the Congolese,” she said. “He is like a father who has heard the screams and cries of his children and says, ‘Don’t give up. Continue. God is with you.'”

The wounds of Congo and its people are deep, she said. “There are criminals who continue to slaughter the innocent without pity. There are people without scruples who want to grab strategic minerals.”

“The pope is going to denounce and announce,” Sister Mboshu Kongo said. “He will denounce the evil so that those who foment war will renounce their diabolical ways, and he will proclaim Jesus Christ, light of the world.”

Read More Vatican News

Vatican envoy warns UN General Assembly racism mutating and ‘reemerging’ globally

AI and the meaning of life: Tech industry turns to religious leaders

Pope calls European bishops to be prophetic voices for peace

Pope asks Catholics to renew consecration of world to Mary every March 25

Confession, indulgences express and strengthen communion, speakers say

Pope: Without power of Holy Spirit, evangelization is empty advertising

Copyright © 2023 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history
  • Movie Review: ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81
  • Legendary communist-era priest, Father Blachnicki, was murdered, Polish authorities confirm

| Latest Local News |

Catholic Charities’ William J. McCarthy Jr. named Loyola’s Business Leader of the Year

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

| Latest World News |

Vatican envoy warns UN General Assembly racism mutating and ‘reemerging’ globally

‘We all need to do more’: House hearing demands action over Nicaragua regime’s anti-Catholic persecution

Notre Dame Cathedral reopening date announced as reconstruction on its famous spire wraps up in eastern France

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Vatican envoy warns UN General Assembly racism mutating and ‘reemerging’ globally
  • ‘We all need to do more’: House hearing demands action over Nicaragua regime’s anti-Catholic persecution
  • Notre Dame Cathedral reopening date announced as reconstruction on its famous spire wraps up in eastern France
  • AI and the meaning of life: Tech industry turns to religious leaders
  • Movie Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4, a festival of fatality’
  • Pope calls European bishops to be prophetic voices for peace
  • En la frontera de México y EE.UU., defensores de migrantes que buscan asilo hacen un llamado a la acción
  • At U.S.-Mexico border, migrants’ advocates call for action on U.S. asylum policy
  • Jewish parents challenge California ban on special education funds at religious schools

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED