DRC: President Tshisekedi's uncle Gérard Mulumba Kalemba dies from coronavirus

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In the DRC, the head of the civil house of the Head of State died from the coronavirus. Monsignor Gérard Mulumba was 83 years old and was the uncle of President Félix Tshisekedi.

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Archbishop Gérard Mulumba Kalemba was born in 1937. Ordained a priest at the age of 30, he was subsequently appointed bishop of Mweka, in the Kasaï area, in 1989. He had to his credit the construction of numerous schools as well than several parishes in this diocese.

Then comes the canonical age of retirement, 75 years old. He then resigned, but Pope Francis did not take note of it until four years later, in February 2017, two weeks after the death in Brussels of his big brother the historic opponent Etienne Tshisekedi, the father of the current President of the Republic.

Those who met him in his functions as rector at the Kabwe seminary, speak of a simple, generous, balanced and honest man. A man sensitive and attentive to the problems of others, even those who are not religious.

In his large biological family, the bishop passed for a sage, a unifier. He has been head of the Congolese head of state's civil house since 2019.

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• Ground floor
• Félix Tshisekedi
• Etienne Tshisekedi
• Coronavirus

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