YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – After video of a politician who heads an armed rebel group speaking at a Catholic parish in violence-plagued eastern Congo went viral, church leaders in Africa’s largest Catholic country are attempting to distance themselves from the impression of lending support to insurrection.

On July 14, Corneille Nangaa, an Evangelical Protestant and the founder of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (“Congo River Alliance”), a rebel group with links to the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel movement, attended a Catholic Mass at a parish in Rutshuru, located in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Video of the appearance has become a social media sensation in Congo, where the country’s roughly 60 million Catholics represent more than half of the national population, and the church has long played a critical role in political life.

“I thank the Lord for allowing us to pray together today,” Nangaa said in the video.

“It is a great honor for my humble self to benefit from your warm welcome today. My personal posture does not count, for I stand before the Lord God and before you all in all humility,” he said.

“Today, I have had the divine grace to commune with all of you in this magnificent fraternal Eucharistic celebration. I thank God, and I thank you. I am your servant; I am your child; I am your father; and I am your brother,” Ndanga said, to applause from the congregation.

Controversy arose after the video appeared, with many observers suggesting it created the impression that the church was backing the rebel groups.

In response, the secretary general of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo issued a statement two days later insisting that Ndanga’s appearance had come as a “shock” to church leaders, and that it did not imply any endorsement of his positions.

“Far from being an expression of the Catholic Church’s support for the rebels, as some ill-intentioned people think, this is rather an incident that occurred to the great surprise of the officiating Priest in the context we can all imagine,” said Monsignor Donatien Nshole.

Nshole said the impromptu speech actually violated a 14-year-old bishops’ conference policy against allowing politicians to speak during worship services “for propagandistic purposes.”

He said the country’s Bishops have always worked to foster a sense of national cohesion, and noted that for that national feeling to be consolidated there is the need to organize “consultations between representatives of the country’s vital forces, and across political divides.”

Some Congolese Catholics have called for disciplinary action against the pastor who allowed the speech to occur.

“The cardinal should question the parish priest of that Church,” said Parfait Engamba, a prominent local Catholic, in an interview with Crux.

He was referring to Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa, widely considered the most important prelate in Congo, who has himself faced threats of prosecution over charges of sedition for his public criticism of the government of President Félix Tshisekedi.

“I still can’t understand why the forces of law and order are not arresting this Nangaa man,” Engamba said, accusing Nangaa of seeking to sow discord between church and state, and insisting that “the church does not support those who betray the state.”

The DRC has for decades been blighted by conflict, with rebels exercising full reign particularly in the east of the country.

Rich in mineral resources, some of which are considered critical to energy transition, the eastern Congo has become an attractive spot for over 100 rebel groups, such as the M23 backed by neighboring Rwanda.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to 41 percent of the world’s cobalt, key to the production of electric cars. It’s the sixth largest producer of industrial diamonds, with a production of ten million carats a year, and it boasts the largest hydropower potential in Africa and one of the largest globally, with a technically feasible capacity of approximately 100,000 megawatts.

Despite these vast resources, the benefits to the population have been minimal. In 2021, the country ranked 179th out of 191 in the Human Development Index, with over 70 percent of the population living on less than $2 a day.

Father Godefroid Mombula Alekiabo, the academic secretary of Saint Augustine University in the national capital Kinshasa, bemoaned the fact that these resources are not benefiting the people.

“It’s become a curse to the DRC, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people,” he told Crux.

According to a March report by the United Nations, 7.2 million people had been displaced since war broke out nearly three decades ago. The Global Conflict Tracker added that cyclical, violent conflict has also led to the deaths of at least 6 million people.

Nshole believes a sustainable solution will come from the loving care of Mother Mary.

“May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, intercede for our country with her Son, the Prince of Peace,” Nshole said.