Pope Francis prays for peace in DR Congo

The morning sun is burning relentlessly. Seraphine Nlandu fans herself. She has entered the gate at Ndolo Airport grounds in Kinshasa, eyeing the lawn where up to one million people are expected to gather.

In a few moments, Pope Francis will wave over from his popemobile, as he is chauffeured over the landing strip to a massive platform. People have eagerly awaited the Mass he will hold here in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"First of all, we are happy," Nlandu says. "We hope that the pope's presence will bring peace to the country."

Nlandu is a mother of three who lives in Ngiri-Ngiri, a high density suburb to the south of the city center. Kinshasa is quite expensive, so her family can't afford much. Her husband earns a civil servant's wage and she works some occasional jobs.

"Our country is vast and rich — potentially. But the people don't see much of it," Nlandu says.

Conflict-torn east

Kinshasa has peace. But in eastern Congo, a complex conflict has been underway for the past 30 years. More than 120 rebel groups are fighting government forces in the east, according to the Congo Research Group. 

One of the rebel groups, the M23, has been dominating the headlines of late. Tensions with neighboring Rwanda are high and Congo is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of the year.

Pope Francis is in a wheelchair at the Mass. The 86-year-old explicitly addresses the conflict just once. He wants to give solace, ask for forgiveness and remind his audience of how every individual is responsible for their actions, he says.

"Jesus is telling every family, every parish, every ethnicity, every neighborhood and every city of this vast country today: 'Peace be upon you.'"  Ethnicity is sometimes at the heart of conflict in Congo.

Francis pauses after every few sentences, so that his Italian can be translated to French. His audience listen in silence but breaks out in applause when the pope bids them farewell in the local language of Lingala.

Francis as a political admonisher

The pontiff's tone on Wednesday differed greatly from the night before. After his arrival in the presidential gardens, Francis addressed an audience of top level politicians, civil society agents and ambassadors.

Congo, he said, was fighting "to protect its dignity and territorial integrity against despicable attempts of fragmenting the country". 

Francis said he believed that political exploitation gave way to an economic colonialism that was equally enslaving.

"Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa, it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered," he said.

Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi, seated next to the pope, said "...not just armed groups but also foreign powers are exploiting the resources of our soil". 

Church as counterweight to state 

During the Mass at the airport, Tshisekedi watches from underneath a gazebo. In the sun nearby, secretaries, military officials and prominent opposition figure Martin Fayulu are present too.

The Catholic Church is an important counterweight to state power in Congo. In 2019, clerics monitoring the presidential election in which Tshisekedi was named the winner, said the result was manipulated and that Fayulu had been the winner. Back then, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, the archbishop of Kinshasa, spoke of a "denial of truth".

More than three years later, Cardinal Ambongo stands next to the pope in a wide garment, ornated with red stripes. "Your visit comes at a time of elections, which has often been a reason for social and political tension in our country," he tells Pope Francis.

"With the message you have delivered to our people... and our confidence in your prayer, we hope to achieve free, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections."

The audience cheers loudly. After the Mass, many believers climb the stage for a selfie, before the crowds scatter.  

"We hope that [the pope's] plea [for peace] will be put into practice," says Seraphine Nlandu. She hopes that those responsible for violence and suffering will answer it too. "But this is how it goes in church: Praying is one thing, but implementing is something else."

Next stop: South Sudan

Francis is expected to make his way from Congo to South Sudan, where he will become the first pope to set foot in Africa's youngest country on Friday. Preparations in the capital Juba are in full swing: potholes are being filled, roads cleaned and choirs are rehearsing.

The visit is of high symbolic power for South Sudan, which has seen civil war mostly since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

"We are in a bad situation," James Chuol, an internally displaced man, told DW. "Since 2013, up to now, we never saw peace as civilians. We expect that if the pope comes, maybe there is change."

Many resolutions from the 2020 peace treaty have not yet been fulfilled. The hopes are high that Pope Francis as a respected authority in the christian country might be able to appeal to the leaders' conscience and shine a light on one of Africa's forgotten conflicts.

This article was originally written in German.