Catholic Bishops from the Republic of Congo Conclude Ad Limina Visit

By Marco Macini

Vatican, 21 November, 2023 / 11:16 am (ACI Africa).

Last week Pope Francis received in audience the bishops of the Republic of Congo on the occasion of their ad limina apostolorum visit.

Leading the bishops' representation was the President of the Episcopal Conference of the Republic of Congo, Monsignor Bienvenu Manamika Bafouakouahou, Metropolitan Archbishop of Brazzaville.

The visit culminated with an audience granted by the Pope to the bishops on Friday, November 17. The Congolese bishops then had the opportunity to meet with the heads of dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

The ad limina visit was scheduled to take place in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement: the last ad limina of the bishops of the Republic of Congo had taken place in 2015, and normally such a visit takes place every five years.

Out of a population of about 5 million people, Catholics in Congo are about half.

The local Church is currently structured into 3 metropolitan archdioceses, each of which has two suffragan dioceses.

The president of the Episcopal Conference since May 2022 is Monsignor Bienvenu Manamika Bafouakouahou, Metropolitan Archbishop of Brazzaville.

The Episcopal Conference of the Republic of Congo is a member of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of the Central African Region and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).

The Republic of Congo to date is not represented within the College of Cardinals. The only bishop from Congo to receive the purple was Cardinal Émile Biayenda in 1973 from Pope Paul VI. The then Archbishop of Brazzaville was killed in 1977, at only 50 years of age. The reasons for his killing, to this day, have not been clarified.

In 1995, the cause for beatification and canonization of the African cardinal was initiated.