“Time of grace, synodal conversion”: Cardinal Ambongo on Pastoral Week in DR Congo’s Kinshasa Archdiocese

Kinshasa, 01 September, 2025 / 11:40 PM

Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has called for spiritual renewal in a spirit of discernment as his Metropolitan See opens its second Archdiocesan Pastoral Week. 

In his homily on Monday, September 1, the first day of the weeklong gathering that has brought together Bishops, Clergy, women and men Religious, and the Laity to reflect on the theme, “Missionary Action in the light of the Gospel”, Cardinal Ambongo underscored the importance of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Week.

“This Pastoral Week is neither a technical seminar nor a simple planning workshop. It is rather a time of grace, a retreat in the Church, a process of synodal conversion and community discernment,” the Congolese Cardinal said at the start of the event taking pace at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Nganda.

He added, “It is together in mutual listening and under the action of the Spirit that we will seek to evolve, to evaluate our practices, to read the signs of time and to formulate courageous, prophetic and hopeful plans.”

“Rejuvenated by the Spirit, we will be called to return to our Parishes, to our communities, to our families, to our pastoral realities as witnesses of an embodied hope attentive to the most fragile and faithful to the charity of Christ,” the Cardinal said.

Reflecting on the theme of the ongoing Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope”, the Local Ordinary of Kinshasa Archdiocese, who doubles as President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) highlighted the centrality of hope in pastoral work, particularly in the face of trials and exhaustion.

“We need hope because often we fall into certain trials in our mission, and they can push us to discouragement, to laziness, to despair, to desertion,” the Congolese member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap) said.

He continued, “Sometimes, even we Priests – accustomed as we are to encouraging the people of God to find comfort in the face of death – can, when exhausted ourselves, forget the message we have long preached.”

“Yet, the hope grounded in Christ’s victory over death remains the true driving force of our pastoral work. There is no pastoral action that does not rest upon hope,” he said.

Cardinal Ambongo added, “Pastoral fecundity does not always depend on the immediate call, but on the fidelity to the Gospel and to the Spirit he sends us.”

He implored, “May the Holy Spirit that we invoke today be our guide throughout this week. May he open our hearts, may he open our minds, may he change our emotions, our feelings to the heart and to the listening of those who want to live.”