Cardinal urges Congo diocese to accept their bishop

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu appealed to clergy in Wamba to allow Bishop Emmanuel Ngona Ngotsi to formally take possession of the diocese.

“We cannot manage the affairs of the Church like those of the city,” he said in a homily on October 17.

Pope Francis named then-Fr Ngona Ngotsi, a priest of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), as the Bishop of Wamba in January 2024. Cardinal Ambongo ordained him as a bishop in September last year.

But Bishop Ngona Ngotsi has been unable to take canonical possession of the remote diocese due to opposition from local priests and laity, who are said to insist that a new bishop should be from the Wamba Diocese. His appointment followed the 30-year tenure of Bishop Janvier Kataka Luvete, who was born in Zambia.

Local Catholics staged a protest against the appointment of Bishop Ngona Ngotsi in February 2024, during which they reportedly demanded a bishop who was indigenous to Wamba. Bishop Ngona Ngotsi was born in the town of Bambu-Mines in the Diocese of Bunia, which neighbours the Wamba Diocese.

The apostolic nunciature in Kinshasa announced in a September 22 letter to Congolese bishops that the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelisation, which oversees the Diocese of Wamba, had decided to suspend the formation of seminarians.

The dicastery took the rare step because it deemed that priestly formation “in such a difficult ecclesial atmosphere” was inappropriate. It advised Wamba’s seminarians to seek assistance in continuing their studies from other Congolese bishops.

Cardinal Ambongo travelled to Wamba on October 15 as an envoy of Pope Leo XIV, with the task of easing tensions concerning the bishop’s appointment. Speaking during a brief stop on the way to Wamba, the cardinal asked for prayers.

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Congolese cardinal seeks ‘solution’ as diocese rejects bishop (By Luke Coppen/The Pillar)