Church News

(the Provincial Episcopal Assembly of Bukavu) has been in ordinary session in the city of Butembo since Monday, April 8. These meetings are being held at the Spiritual Center of the Orant Sisters of the Assumption in Kasongomi.

By the CECA press release (n.35/CECA/SG/24) signed by its Secretary General Abbot Cédric KONGBO, the Central African community learned with great regret of the death of the Bishop of Kaga-Bandoro on Sunday, March 31, 2024, Easter Sunday, at 5 a.m. His body was brought back to the city of Bangui the same day for preservation at the morgue. By another official press release from the Episcopal Conference of Central Africa, a week later, with reference n.38/CECA/24, the entire program of the burial of Monsignor Thaddée was delivered.

Beginning on March 11, Ramadan plunged the Muslim brothers into spiritual depth through intense prayers and a daily fast that requires them to abstain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to sunset. They are allowed, during this long period, only two meals at sunset (Iftar) and before dawn (Suhoor).

Landing in Gemena on April 2, 2024, the Archbishop of Kinshasa took on the duty of visiting his biological family, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the General Custody of the Friars Minor of the Capuchins in Congo Kinshasa and Brazzaville and celebrating his five years in his homeland since he became a cardinal.

The Lord's gaze on each of us is not a blinding beacon that dazzles and puts us in difficulty, but the soft glow of a friendly lamp, which helps us to see the good in ourselves and to become aware of the evil, so that we can be converted and healed, sustained by his grace.

To better celebrate Divine Mercy on the Sunday after Easter, Quasimodo Sunday or St. Thomas Sunday, all the faithful are asked to commit to the preparatory novena. It is with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for nine days since Good Friday that the hearts of the faithful will be prepared to receive merciful graces in the face of their sins and evils: "Even the most hardened sinners, if they recite this Chaplet just once, obtain the grace of my infinite mercy"; "On this day are opened all the divine sources through which graces flow; let no soul be afraid to approach me, even if its sins are like scarlet, Christ affirms to Faustina, the grace of my infinite mercy", Christ affirms to Faustina. Good devotion to all those who are called to open this novena of divine grace today.

There is a reality in daily life that is always refused by human beings. It is suffering. To love suffering appears as an insult to life. From the beginning, the garden was prepared for man, fulfilled by a green setting without the slightest idea of what the price of this setting was worth. Adam, before sin, is the symbol of this most fulfilled man who was made to taste resurrection without knowing death. He could not resist the tempting proposals of the fruit that leads to death. Surprised by his fall, the "drawn from the earth" must now live only in anticipation of the day of the recovery of humanity that will be caused by the one who falls from the sky to die in the ground in order to bring LIFE.

During his homily, the Archbishop of Bangui exhorted the priests and the faithful with the following theme: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has consecrated me by the anointing. Reminding the priests of the meaning of their commitment which invites them to conform to Christ their Master, he exhorted the faithful to pray a lot for the priests and for the bishop.

After accompanying the faithful from their parishes on the pilgrimage, and hearing their confessions according to a calendar of different deaneries, the priests (secular and regular) working in the Archdiocese of Bangui withdrew in oversaturation around Cardinal Dieudonné NZAPALAINGA for a day of recollection this Wednesday, March 27, 2024.

Today is Holy Tuesday, the 26th day of the month of March in the year of the Lord 2024 in Boso-Manzi in the diocese of Lisala, His Excellency Monsignor José-Bernard LIKOLO celebrated the Chrism Mass with his presbyterium. During which, concelebrating with his collaborators who are the abbots of Lisala and Molegbe, he consecrated the Holy Chrism and blessed the other oils for the two dioceses: Lisala and Molegbe of which he is respectively Bishop and Apostolic Administrator.

The prophets did not reserve themselves to reveal in image the identity of the one who will come to save humanity. The first reading reminds us of the role that a prophet plays. He is the one who listens to God by transmitting the message to humans. It is the Word of God that gives us strength in trials. Jesus is the Word made flesh. We can ask the same question as the Ethiopian eunuch today in relation to the first reading: “Of whom does the prophet speak, of himself or of another” (Acts 8:34).