Diakonia, DR Congo’s Kinshasa Charity, “expression of God's compassionate love”: Official

The work of the charity in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa “is ultimately an attitude of the heart, nourished by the pericope of the Gospel according to Matthew in which Jesus says that ‘whenever you did to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did it to me’,” Sr. Câline further said.

Since inception, the charity has reached out to at least 4,000 families, including all the houses of religious formation in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa, Sr. Caline has said.

Amid COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected at least 8,931 people and claimed 210 lives while 6,095 patients have recovered, Sr. Câline says the charity’s teams have distributed palliatives such as masks, sanitizers and food items to vulnerable populations, and also sensitized people on barrier measures.

The humanitarian assistance, the Congolese nun has said, has been distributed indiscriminately to people of all faiths, including Protestants and Muslims in the region covered by the 61-year-old Archdiocese.

On the relationship between Diakonia and the Archdiocesan Caritas, Sr. Câline said that the two Archdiocesan entities are "the fingers of one hand that touch the vulnerable" even though Diakonia “would like to bring a more concrete warmth to the poor, by joining them in their existential peripheries.”

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She explained, “This is indeed the image of a Church on the way of what Pope Francis speaks of, which Cardinal Ambongo wanted to reproduce by creating this service of charity in his Archdiocese.”

Responding to the question of whether the government remains relevant amid the charity doing the work of state agencies by relieving the misery of the vulnerable population, Sr. Caline affirmed that “the evangelical charity of the church does not encourage the state to resign.”

On the contrary, she said, “the evangelical closeness to the poor reminds us of the urgency of good governance, which must become the priority of priorities for our African nations on the brink of the precipice.”

In this context, the nun believes that the great challenge of the Diakonia is “to strengthen the bonds of solidarity and sharing to reduce significantly and sustainably the glaring disparities that exist in Congolese society.”

Sr. Caline desires to see Diakonia “spread throughout the whole of the Democratic Republic of Congo.”