Universal Church

In the tradition of the Church, there is the possibility of singing the Calendas (Kalenda) at the beginning of the celebration (like the Exultet on Easter night). It is after this announcement that the Child Jesus is placed in the manger. The church bells can also be rung during this moment. Here is the text of the Church in Latin and French.

In the Church of Bangui in the CAR, particularly in the Cathedral, there is a custom where the faithful propose the theme of the crib. There is not a nativity scene that comes back with the same face every Christmas. This is why this year, the theme adopted by the rector of the Cathedral of Bangui is the mission given that the Archdiocese of Bangui has been deepening this theme for several years.

On November 11, 2023, while the Church was celebrating Saint Martin of Tours, a date that recalls the Patron Saint of Mueka where Monsignor Libère had received his baptism, the Vatican had announced through a CENCO press release the appointment of Father Libère Pwongo as Bishop of Basankusu. This news sparked the joy of more than one. Nothing was long in coming, a few days after the announcement, the date of his consecration was made public.

We live in an era where information travels at a cruising speed. Everyone with a smartphone in hand, the appetite for information, verifiable or not, haunts everyone. It is in this wake that the announcement of the death of Father Pol FEYEN was spread on social networks before an official announcement by his congregation.

From November 30 to December 12, 2023, COP28 is being held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates while the papal delegation remains until December 6. On behalf of the Church of the DRC, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa and President of SECAM (Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar), and Monsignor Sébastien-Joseph Muyengo, Bishop of Uvira, President of CERN/CENCO (Episcopal Commission for Natural Resources) and Focal Point of REBAC (Congo Basin Ecclesial Network/SCEAM). Cardinal Ambongo joined Dubai on the afternoon of this Thursday after the time difference of the planes.

Liturgical Year A ends with the feast of Christ the King of the Universe and liturgical year B begins with the first Sunday of Advent. To do this and to better live our liturgical year it is important to know it better.

Meditating on the famous phrase “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” the Holy Father invited the faithful to be good citizens while knowing that they belong only to God (Matthew 21:15–21): “In reality, Jesus wants to help us to put Caesar and God in their rightful place. To Caesar – that is, to politics, to civil institutions, to social and economic processes – falls the care of the earthly order; and we, who are immersed in this reality, must render to society what it offers us through our contribution as responsible citizens … yet man belongs to God …

The Synod that opened in the Vatican in the sixteenth General Assembly on October 3, 2023, closed its doors with the Eucharistic celebration on Sunday, October 29, 2023. All the reflections, in prayer, were presented this Saturday, October 28, 2023 in the form of a report of more than forty pages. We briefly suggest the three parts of said report: Listening to all, starting with victims of abuse, Laity and families and formation.

Let us reread the three proposed readings in light of God's attention to our miserable lives. Let us recall that the first reading is located in what is called the Code of the Covenant (Ex 20:22-23:19). It is a code of laws written from the ten commandments of Moses. If the latter delivered the laws to nomadic Israel (Ex 20:1-17), the Code of the Covenant is the work of a sedentary Israel who concretizes the ten commandments in daily life. It is here that Israel insists on the respect and dignity of human life. On the day of the renewal of the Covenant in Shechem, the twelve tribes reconfirmed their faith in these laws (Josh 8:30).

After the opening of the pastoral year by Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui, the FRAMICCOR (Missionary Fraternity of Congolese Consecrated People in the Central African Republic) had a day of recollection to faithfully embark on the pastoral year 2023-2023.

PG: In this month of October, the Pope invites us to pray "for the Church, so that it may adopt listening and dialogue as a way of life at all levels, allowing itself to be guided by the power of the Holy Spirit towards the peripheries of the world... The Mission is at the heart of the Church," affirms Pope Francis, explaining that it is a synodal dynamic that "can only be carried by the missionary vocation, that is, the response to Jesus' command to proclaim the Gospel."