Pope Francis urged tens of thousands of young people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Thursday to work for a better future and to avoid corruption in the deeply Catholic country, which is besieged by violence in its east.
The 86-year-old pontiff arrived on his popemobile at Martyrs’ stadium in Kinshasa, where he blessed an ecstatic crowd who roared and danced in the stands.
Overnight, young people began to flock to the 80,000-seat stadium. On the third day of the Argentine’s visit to Africa’s largest Catholic country, organisers estimated a crowd of 65,000.
According to UN figures, roughly 60% of the central African nation’s 100 million people are under the age of 20. Young people face persistent unemployment in addition to conflict.
In his address to the stadium, Pope Francis urged the crowd to work together to build a better future for the church and their country.
“You are part of a larger history, one that calls you to play an active role as a builder of communion, a champion of fraternity, and an unwavering dreamer of a more united world,” he said.
“Never succumb to the alluring but poisonous temptations of corruption,” he said in Italian, which was translated into French, the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The pope also requested that the crowd chant “no to corruption” after him.
– Priests on front line –
Later on Thursday, he is due to meet Jesuit leaders and priests on the front line of the church’s work in the DRC.
About 40 percent of the country’s population is Catholic, according to official statistics, and the church retains huge influence despite secularism being enshrined in the constitution.
On Wednesday, the pope hosted a mass at Kinshasa’s airport that organisers said drew about a million people, some of whom had camped out all night to get a spot.
He then met victims of conflict in the DRC’s mineral-rich east, some of whom had suffered appalling violence.
His face grave, Francis called for mercy from God.
“May he convert the hearts of those who carry out brutal atrocities, which bring shame upon all humanity,” he said.
He said the conflict was being driven by greed and called on combatants to lay down their arms.
“Listen to the cry of their blood,” the pope said, alluding to a verse from the Book of Genesis.
Scores of armed groups roam eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two wars at the end of the 20th century that sucked in countries from around the region.
– ‘Economic colonialism’ –
The DRC is replete with minerals, timber and fresh water, yet remains one of the poorest countries in the world where corruption is entrenched.
On Tuesday, the pope — speaking before an audience of Congolese politicians and other dignitaries — said the DRC had been hamstrung by a long history of exploitation.
“Political exploitation gave way to an economic colonialism that was equally enslaving,” he said.
“As a result, this country, massively plundered, has not benefited adequately from its immense resources.”
Many Congolese warmly welcomed the pope’s message, and some hoped it would bring change.
Francis takes his appeal for peace and reconciliation to South Sudan on Friday for a maiden three-day visit.
Born in 2011 after gaining independence from Sudan, the nation has been battered by a civil conflict that left around 380,000 dead.
The visit to the two countries was initially scheduled for 2022 but had to be postponed because of the pope’s problems with his knee — an affliction that has made him dependent on a wheelchair.
It is his 40th foreign trip since he ascended to the papacy in 2013.