Pope Francis ends an emotional visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday and leaves for neighboring South Sudan, which has been struggling to overcome decades of conflict and poverty.
The 86-year-old pontiff, on his third visit to sub-Saharan Africa since the beginning of his papacy in 2013, was greeted by huge crowds in Congo’s capital Kinshasa, but also faced the reality of war, poverty and hunger .
On Wednesday, he heard harrowing stories from victims of the conflict in eastern Congo, who had witnessed the killing of close relatives and been subjected to sexual slavery, mutilation and forced cannibalism.
The Pope condemned the atrocities as war crimes and called on all parties, internal and external, who are planning war in the Congo to plunder the country’s vast mineral resources to prevent them from enriching themselves with “blood-stained money”. appealed to.
Eastern Congo has been plagued for decades by conflict driven by a struggle between the government, rebels and foreign invaders for control of deposits of diamonds, gold and other precious metals. The effects and long-term consequences of the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda have also fueled violence.