Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, is a prominent figure in the panorama of the universal Church and well known in the African context. A Capuchin Father, born in 1960, next to the Pope during the historic visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo last February, Mgr Ambongo has always been active in the search for peace for his tormented country and in promoting dialogue and the rights of his fellow citizens. Pope Francis clearly has great confidence in him.
After appointing him Apostolic Administrator of Mbandaka-Bikoro in March 2016 and Archbishop of the same diocese in November, in February 2018 he chose him first as Coadjutor of Kinshasa and a few months later as Archbishop. In the Consistory of 5 October 2019, he created and published him Cardinal of the Title of Saint Gabriel Archangel at Acqua Traversa and then wanted him to join him in the C9 from October 2020 and reconfirmed him at the time of his renewal last March.
We interviewed him during a break in the work of the synodal assemblies at Santa Marta for an exclusive interview with Synodal Times, he spoke to us about the “Africanity” of the Synod, the meaning this convocation has for his continent and his country, the participation of the faithful in the synodal process, and revealed a very important initiative to promote peace in the Great Lakes area.
Q: Your Eminence, how have the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo welcomed the news of the Synod on Synodality and how have they participated in the process?
“There was immediately a lot of enthusiasm for this Synod on Synodality. When I was appointed Archbishop of Kinshasa in 2018, I chose ‘Omnia Omnibus’ (all things to all people) as my episcopal motto.
To explain the essence of this motto, I spoke of the need to work together, to proceed hand in hand and I already evoked the expression of collegiality and synodality on that occasion. When the Pope convened the Synod on Synodality, therefore, we immediately found ourselves in this reality because we were already living it in a certain sense.
Indeed, the Synod was very well received throughout our country and corresponds to a real need. The need expressed by all the faithful, especially the lay faithful but also the consecrated, the religious, to participate in the workings of the Church.
The need to play an important role in the Church. And when we started our process at the grass[1]roots I could see a general enthusiasm and commitment. The process has continued throughout these months and the people now await the developments”.
Q: The pope follows Congo a lot, prays and sends messages for peace. In February, he made a historic visit of great importance. From Kinshasa he launched a veritable manifesto for Africa: “Hands off Africa!”.
What meaning did the Pope’s words have and what impact did they have, which in addition to being pastoral had a political character? “An enormous impact! For the simple reason that Congo is an abnormal country.
It is not like any other, Congo is a country that is potentially enormously rich but with an extremely poor population that lives miserably. It is a country that has a concentration of freshwater springs where, however, the people have no water.
It is a country that has the second largest forest reserve after the Amazon but is forced to import wood and I could go on and on giving examples that would confirm that Congo is an abnormal country.
Why? Because of bad governance; that is the first reason. And the second is the rapacity of the big powers and the big mining companies that glide over the Congo like birds of prey, they sit in the tree and watch ready to swoop down on smaller, defenceless birds to eat them.
Because of this situation the Congo has become to all intents and purposes a kind of garden where anyone can go to plunder and get for themselves, it has become a kind of supermarket for the whole world, for everyone except the Congolese.
In this context, the Pope’s visit was a blessing The message he brought to the Congo expressed to the political world, to all the people during a huge celebration, as well as to the bishops, the priests, the consecrated and especially the young people, is a profound message that goes far beyond the borders of the Congo and Africa.
He used such strong expressions that should shake the consciences of all humanity. Quite simply, I would like to say that that message has not yet been fully understood or sufficiently exploited, as it should be.
And we in the Church of Congo have translated the message into our local language to exploit it to the full, and we will develop pastoral work in the social, economic, political sectors starting from that very message that the Pope has given to Congo”.
Q: There is a strong African presence in the Synod not only in terms of numbers but also in terms of content and the will to change in the Church, what do you think this means?
“Africa is very well represented in the Synod – we are over 65 representatives and Africa came to this Synod not with claims because the Church of Africa was sufficiently prepared in the spirit of synodality.
We are often asked questions by journalists: “Is Africa’s voice heard? Are you Africans enough heard? We remain very cautious and at the same time very much rooted in this spirit of synodality: Africa did not come with points to make, but with an attitude of openness based on the pastoral challenges of our continent.
As is well known, Africa’s pastoral challenges are different from Europe or America. The great pastoral challenges we face are human suffering, misery, poverty, conflicts, wars. If you look at the geography of our continent, you will see that there are problems just about everywhere, not to mention the environmental disasters resulting from climate change. It is the continent that suffers the most from these changes despite being the one that causes them the least.
With all these concerns we came to the Synod to say ‘Here we are the Catholic Church, these are our concerns’. It is not just a matter of hoping to go home with all the solutions at hand but to be a synodal church, a church that walks together hand in hand. It is by marching together that one can hope to seek solutions to problems.
Africa’s problems are not just those within our continent but something we share with the universal church as a whole. This is precisely what the spirit of synodality is all about. We have tried to bring our great concerns to this assembly and we hope that in the synodal process during which we will walk together, we will be able to address the challenges and seek a solution”.
Q: Observing the African presences at the Synod as well as the choices, the appointments of Pope Francis, one notices a gradual ‘Africanisation’ of the Catholic Church, Africa is no longer just a land of mission – and of colonisation – but becomes a protagonist, is that so?
“That time is over. On the contrary, the church of Africa appears today as the image of the church of tomorrow. If we think of the future of the Church, it is impossible to imagine it without Africa. On the contrary, therefore, it will be Africa that will reawaken the faith here in the West.
Today we see that those who brought us the Gospel in the past are in trouble today, and in the name of that inter ecclesia solidarity, we will bring personnel and witness, and the time will come for Africa to give back the coin. We can say that we are at the beginning of this new phase”.
Q: In addition to being poor and exploited, Congo lives – especially in the east – in a situation of great conflict that increases month by month. Can the Synod also dream of saying something to those lands like Congo where there is great suffering due to weapons and violence?
“I believe that the synod has already borne fruit regarding the conflict in the east of the country. The war there involves a number of countries: Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and to some extent also South Sudan.
But the real conflict is not with all of these but especially with Rwanda, secondarily with Uganda and to a lesser extent also with Burundi. When we came here for the Synod we organised a meeting with the bishops of Rwanda, Burundi and Congo.
On the sidelines of the Synod, we drew up a document to say that our leaders are fighting a tough conflict that involves our peoples, they are the ones who pay the highest price. We must lead by example.
The meeting lasted three/four days and people who came on purpose also took part. The hope is that it will help our peoples to live together and coexist because there is no conflict between our peoples, but a war created by the leaders and all those who benefit from Congo’s resources”.
