General Eddy Kapend Yrung, Commander of the 22nd Military Region of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, issued an order banning Fulgence Muteba Mugalu, President of the Episcopal Conference of Congo and Archbishop of Lubumbashi, from celebrating the Mass of Christ the King in the parish of “St. Sebastian” in the military camp of Vangu.

Despite the intimidating order, the archbishop refused to comply and celebrated the Mass with an enthusiastic crowd of believers. The Archdiocese then released a statement calling the general’s order illegal and unconstitutional. It stated:

“The Archbishop was not intimidated by this illegal order, which is symptomatic of a blatant abuse of office, and went to St. Sebastian as planned for several days.”

Furthermore, the archdiocese added that the actions of General Yrung,

“violate the respect for religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution and the Framework Agreement between the Holy See and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

In a short period, this was not the only incident that indicated the growing tension between the Congolese military and the Catholic Church in the DRC. The first incident occurred on November 18, when soldiers kidnapped a seminarian from the inter-diocesan seminary of “Saint Paul” in Lubumbashi. The seminarian was released on the evening of the same day. In the opinion of the archdiocese, these incidents are connected to the conflict between the Catholic church and the army over the land concession of the seminary. Archbishop Muteba said that certain people who want to illegally appropriate church premises are behind the incidents.

Source: Agenzia Fides

Photo: Laura Heaton