GNIEZNO, Poland (OSV News) ─ It was his first time in Poland -- the land of St. John Paul II -- and the visit had a special significance for Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the outspoken leader of the church in Africa.
"Intellectually, I was shaped by the pontificate of John Paul II with his social encyclicals. And then his example had a profound impact on us," he said of priests of his generation.
"Everything he did as pope, but also as a son of a country called Poland ... the moral support he gave to the Solidarity movement, which enabled Poland to change and turn the page on communism -- all these things had a profound impact on us," Cardinal Ambongo said. "My commitment today to the cause of justice in my country, even on the African continent and globally, is inspired by the struggle of Pope John Paul II."
In the course of his three-day visit to the birthplace of Poland, on the occasion of the Sept. 11-14 Council of Gniezno, the archbishop of Kinshasa and president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, or SECAM, spoke about peace efforts in his country.
The peace summit brought together top prelates from all corners of the globe under the theme "The Courage of Peace. Christians together for the future of Europe."
"One might wonder why the Congo's misfortune is its wealth, such that everyone wants to take it, whether it be mineral wealth or forest wealth," he told OSV News Sept. 12. He lamented that Congo's natural resources are "being taken by others," and Congolese people only suffer because of it.
Congo has been dogged by conflict for over 30 years, since the Rwandan 1994 genocide -- with fighting escalating in early 2025 when M23 rebels violently took over Goma and Bukavu, with church sources warning that a silent genocide is unfolding in the country.
It was the Catholic Church that started the peace roadmap titled "The Social Pact for Peace and Living Well Together" in Congo and the Great Lakes, inviting the people of the region to interact and hold dialogue to build lasting peace.
"Instead of continuing to wage war on each other, we can sit down around a table and then each say what hurts us, what is wrong. And then together, we will look for solutions," Cardinal Ambongo told OSV News.
"The initiative is already quite advanced, but we note that all the countries in the sub-region have accepted it. However, it is the government in Kinshasa that is hesitating and is not very enthusiastic about the initiative."
He admitted that while the people "are often, very often manipulated by the political powers," they feel secure with the church. "So we have the people with us. And that's what gives us credibility," he said. "The political powers are no longer credible in the eyes of the people, but the people recognize ... in the church's initiative the hope for a way out of the crisis. ... And because of that, we believe that we must continue to work on these projects."
He said talks have already been underway in the Secretariat of State and with Pope Leo XIV to support the social pact.
"Pope Leo is aware of our initiative and is encouraging us to go ahead with it," Cardinal Ambongo said.
Asked about the conclave that elected the first American pope, he said, "The feeling that filled all the cardinals was joy and satisfaction. And we were certain that Pope Leo had truly been chosen by the Holy Spirit from the very beginning of his pontificate," and "he is truly the pope who has continued in the footsteps of his predecessors."
He said the "first challenge for the pope, in line with his mission, is the unity of the Catholic faithful. That is his primary role as pope."
"When you are pope, your first responsibility is to ensure the unity of Catholics, as you know, within the church. The Catholic Church is universal. Sometimes there are tendencies in one direction or another. And the role of the pope is to keep everyone united in the same family, regardless of our sensibilities, regardless of our opinions."
"We are all Catholics," Cardinal Ambongo said. "And when we say Catholics, we are Catholics based on certain values that we share in common. Based on certain practices that we share in common. That is what makes the church Catholic."
The second challenge, the Congolese prelate said, "is to confirm Catholics in their faith. The pope is not there to create doubt, but to confirm the fundamental articles of our Catholic faith," adding that "the other challenge is the prophetic voice of the church."
"In a world that is falling apart, in a world where there are no longer any values, where we no longer believe in principles, where we no longer believe in what we call the law. ... The prophetic voice of the pope is extremely important," Cardinal Ambongo told OSV News.
"We are counting on him to continue to make the prophetic voice of the church heard, reminding humanity that what matters above all else is the human being, not military power, economic power, or the law of the strongest imposing their will on the weakest."
There are principles, he said, "that make us all human beings. Let's start by respecting that. And we are counting heavily on the pope to help us meet these challenges that the powers of the world are currently flouting."
He said he expects the pope would "first and foremost be a sovereign pontiff who listens" -- to collaborators and the people of God.
He said for him Pope Leo "is a man who speaks very little but listens a lot. ... And when there are big decisions that affect the majority of the faithful, they also need to listen widely before making a decision to avoid what we had with 'Fiducia.'"
Cardinal Ambongo has been one of the most outspoken critics of the bombshell Vatican document "Fiducia Supplicans" ("Supplicating Trust") -- subtitled "On the pastoral meaning of blessings" -- released Dec. 18, 2023, and stating that Catholic priests could bless a same-sex or other unmarried couple. However, it cannot be a formal liturgical blessing, nor give the impression that the church is blessing the union as if it were a marriage.
In a statement released Jan. 11, 2024, Cardinal Ambongo said the decision to not bless homosexual couples was made in agreement with Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"We, the African Bishops, do not consider it appropriate for Africa to bless homosexual unions or same-sex couples because, in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities," he said.
Asked about his approach in a conversation with OSV News in Gniezno, the cardinal commented: "I believe that Fiducia is a bad chapter in the history, I would say, of Pope Francis, because it is a document that was made public between the two sessions of the Synod on Synodality."
"The least we expected," he said, "was that it would be discussed, at least at the synod. It was not discussed."
The document, he said, "caused a lot of harm to the Catholic faithful, and even beyond."
The cardinal said that faced with criticism of not only Christians, but also other faith leaders on the continent, "I took responsibility into my own hands." He said he "saw reactions coming from all sides," including "angry laypeople, priests, religious men and women, and bishops who were very angry."
Therefore as president of SECAM, he said, "I wrote to all the episcopal conferences in Africa to say that we should not react emotionally. I asked each episcopal conference to meet, analyze the document, and let me know their reaction. And that is what the conferences did."
The outcome was a seven-page document that Cardinal Ambongo personally brought to Rome, to Pope Francis.
"On the day I arrived, Pope Francis received me. We talked about it, and I believe that from that point on, he changed his mind. And since then, there has been no more talk of 'Fiducia Supplicans,'" he said, pointing that he made the reaction document public "with the pope's permission" and that "it was not a statement against the pope, but he understood that it was a mistake on his part."
When OSV News asked Cardinal Ambongo whether Pope Francis regretted releasing "Fiducia Supplicans," Cardinal Ambongo said that he "can't go into details because this is confidential information," but that the pope authorized him to publish the document titled "No to the blessing of homosexual couples in African churches."
"If he authorized me to publish it, I can conclude that he at least understood our approach."
He said that he was very grateful to Pope Francis for his iconic words during his visit to Congo in February 2023.
"Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa, it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered," Pope Francis said Jan. 31, 2023, to applause, referring to exploitation of minerals and riches that through the years brought tragedy and wars instead of wealth to the people of Congo.
"The message he brought was well received by the public, even if it doesn't always please politicians," Cardinal Ambongo said, pointing that the voice of the church is well heard by the people of Congo.
"If I look at the role of the church in Africa, it is a church that essentially brings hope to the people," he said.
The cardinal found his vocation thanks to a missionary Capuchin priest from Belgium, Father Gerulf, in his native town of Bwamanda.
"It came from the example of the priest in my parish."
And that, he said, the power of testimony of faith amid hardship and rooted deeply in the church's tradition is still a powerful witness of the church in his continent -- one that can resonate worldwide.
"The universal church needs to maintain this prophetic dimension, because the value of the church in Africa is its prophetic dimension. Alongside all the powerful, those who have money, those who have influence," the church must be "first and foremost this voice that says, 'Be careful, you are going in the wrong direction.'"
"May the church have the courage to say this," Cardinal Ambongo said.
He said that in Western countries, "there is a tendency to set aside the voice of the church. The church is considered outdated, as if to give a good image of yourself, you have to show that you are modern."
He said that in Africa there is "pride in being Catholic" and part of "a church that is not afraid."
"It is a church that has no complexes. It is a church that does not tremble before others. But it is a church that holds its head high."
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Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @Guzik_Paulina.
