Kinshasa, 03 April, 2022 / 9:35 pm (ACI Africa).
The Bishop of Butembo-Beni Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has called on members of the Clergy, women and men Religious and the Laity in the Central African nation to actively participate in their numbers in the planned pastoral visit of Pope Francis in July.
The July 2-5 trip to DRC has been scheduled as part of the Holy Father’s two-African-nation pastoral visit that will see him interact with the people of God in the Congolese cities of Kinshasa and Goma before proceeding to South Sudan’s capital, Juba.
In a Wednesday, March 30 letter addressed to Priests, Consecrated Persons, and the Laity including young people and children of his Diocese, Bishop Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku invites the people of God under his pastoral care “to massively participate” participate in the public Eucharistic celebration Pope Francis is expected to preside over in the city of Goma.
“We are all invited to massively participate in the visit of Pope Francis to our country especially in the Mass he will preside over on July 4 in Goma in North Kivu,” Bishop Paluku says.
He adds, “For practical reasons, all those who wish to participate in the said Mass must register in their respective Parishes.”