Iraqi priest says Pope's visit an act of 'bravery' and 'madness'
- Feb 24, 2021
Catholic bishops in Congo are calling for a special international criminal court to try people suspected of mass killings and human rights abuses in the African country, where thousands of women and girls have been raped by armed men.
COVID-19 is straining the humanitarian resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is already suffering from outbreaks of cholera, measles and Ebola, as well as ongoing civil conflicts.
For over 20 years, eastern Congo been beset by war and conflict, with rival gangs fighting for control over the region’s rich mineral resources. While other aid organizations and NGOs have fled the area as a result of rising insecurity, religious sisters have remained.
Event though the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the richest sources of mineral wealth in the world, the people of the country remain among the globe’s poorest. Even worse, many of the miners are children, risking their lives to try and save their families from poverty.
A new bill to reform the judiciary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could violate the country’s 2006 constitution, according the country’s bishops.
As Congo celebrated 60 years of independence from Belgium, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa said the “great dreams” of the people had been shuttered by successive regimes.