world religions

Pope Francis postpones his visit to the DRC and South Sudan

Audio 48:30

Pope Francis, April 27, 2022. (Illustration image) © AP - Andrew Medichini

By: Véronique Gaymard Follow

2 mins

Pope Francis postpones his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, officially for medical reasons.

This was announced by the Vatican on Friday, June 10, 2022. He was to go to Kinshasa in early July, then to Goma, in the east of the DRC and in South Sudan.

The 85-year-old Pope Francis suffers mainly from the knee but also from hip pain.

He had also undergone a delicate colon operation last year (2021).

This trip would have been the first he would have had to make almost entirely in a wheelchair.

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This displacement of the spiritual leader of the Catholics raised a lot of hopes in the DRC in a context of war with recurring attacks, in particular by M23 fighters in the east, tensions with Rwanda accused of supporting this rebellion, and a context of social difficulties -economic growth.

Francis, nicknamed the Pope of the Poor, was to go to Goma for a mass in a refugee camp and meet the populations displaced by the conflict and the victims of the disaster of the eruption of the volcano which occurred last year.

The disappointment is therefore immense in the DRC, but also in South Sudan where he has been expected for more than 2 years.

No rescheduling date has yet been announced.

In this World Religions program, we will come back to the expectations of the Congolese in particular, the pope's messages for the DRC, the religious landscape of the DRC and the diplomacy implemented by the pope.

Participants:

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Doctor of History of Religions and Religious Anthropology, author of " 

 ", published by Karthala

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executive secretary of the Natural Resources Commission of CENCO (Episcopal Conference of Congo)

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Bishop of Uvira (South Kivu)

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, director of ORPER, Work for the Reclassification and Protection of Street Children (www.orper.org)

Reactions in Kinshasa collected by Claire Fages.

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• Religion

• Pope Francis

• ground floor

• South Sudan

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