Pope Francis's death: DR Congo Catholics lost 'the voice of the voiceless'

Church bells tolled across the capital of Africa's most populous Roman Catholic nation on Monday after the death of Pope Francis was announced.

Francis, who visited Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2023, was hailed as a "voice for the voiceless".

In Kinshasa's Our Lady of the Congo Cathedral, Madeleine Bomendje struggled to accept the news: "It's true that he was sick, he was suffering but I still can't believe it. It's a terrible shock."

Some came to pay their respects in the morning ahead of a special mass for the 88-year-old pontiff.

The pope "was selfless, he cared about us, our country", Bomendje said with a trembling voice.

DR Congo has a population of about 100 million and some estimates say 40 million are Catholics, while the Vatican says nearly 50 million are.

Standing for Africa

The country is rich in natural resources but is also one of the world's poorest.

Eastern DR Congo has been wrecked by decades of conflict and tensions have soared in recent months with the advance of the M23 armed group.

The humanitarian disaster left by decades of violence is often overlooked. And the pope's calls for peace, his words against corruption and the exploitation of the country's mineral wealth by foreign countries, have deeply resonated with the population.

Justin Kambale said he felt "great sadness" after hearing of the death of the pope he saw in Kinshasa in January 2023.

The visit remains a landmark for many Congolese. More than one million people attended the pope's open-air mass in Kinshasa.

He spoke against "economic colonialism" and said Africa "was not a mine to be exploited, nor a land to be plundered".

‘Great influencer’

"When he spoke to the world, he always spoke of the war in DR Congo, of the war in Sudan, of the war in Palestine, of the war in Ukraine," Kambale said.

Pope Francis was "the voice of the voiceless", he drew the world's attention on "forgotten suffering" in DR Congo and beyond, said Father Camille Esika, the Kinshasa cathedral's rector.His death is a "great loss, not just for the Catholic church but more than anything for the world's poor", he said.

North of the capital, at the Sacre-Coeur parish run by Jesuits, Raphael Kabangu came to pray at a sanctuary where dozens of candles had been lit.

Though not a Catholic, the lawyer said he had come to pay his respects.

"He was a great figure, a great influencer, in a positive way. We welcomed him here in Congo with a lot of enthusiasm. It's a symbol of Christianity that is leaving," he said.