Butembo-Beni, 18 May, 2022 / 9:45 pm (ACI Africa).
The Bishop of Butembo-Beni Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has said the planned pastoral visit to the country will “comfort all victims of insecurity”.
Addressing journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of the Catholic Bishops of Bukavu Ecclesiastical Province, Bishop Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku said the Holy Father will be visiting the Central African nation “as an ambassador of Christ”.
“In the Ecclesiastical Province of Bukavu, we have been plagued by permanent insecurity for over two decades. And when the Holy Father comes to see us, he comes as an ambassador of Christ,” Bishop Paluku said during the May 14 press conference in which all six Catholic Bishops of the Province participated.
He recalled the words of Christ to his apostles, “I leave you peace, I give you peace" and said that “in concrete circumstances, the Holy Father comes to comfort all the victims of this insecurity.”
“I believe that the message that the Holy Father comes to send to all, is the message that I take from the Gospel: whatever you don't want done to you, don't do it to others,” Bishop Paluku said.