Goma, 15 June, 2023 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has assured the people of God in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Catholic Diocese of Goma of Pope Francis’ spiritual closeness amid the region’s protracted violent conflict and the resultant humanitarian crisis.
In his homily at the courtyard of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish of Goma Diocese, the Papal special envoy to the DRC’s just concluded Third National Eucharistic Congress also recalled the canceled visit of the Holy Father to the Congolese Catholic Diocese.
“The Holy Father constantly remembers you in his prayers,” Cardinal Tagle said during the Tuesday, June 13 Eucharistic Celebration, and added, “You know that he wanted to come here to Goma to show you how close he is to you.”
Pope Francis “suffered greatly from” the decision to cancel the pastoral visit to Goma, the Pro-Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization told the people of God in Goma Diocese, adding, “But rest assured that you are in his mind and in his heart.”
In the initial preparations for his 31 January to 5 February 2023 Apostolic Journey to the DRC and the Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Peace in South Sudan, Pope Francis had been scheduled to proceed to Goma, the capital of North Kivu, after arriving in Kinshasa.