Italian Language School Launched at Catholic University in DR Congo to Foster Cultural Exchange, Academic Openness

 “The Italian language chair that we are inaugurating today will not be limited to teaching grammar and vocabulary. It aims to become a true center for the promotion of Italian culture at the heart of the DRC,” the Rector explained.

According to Fr.  Ngazain, the choice of Italian is both strategic and meaningful. 

He noted that “Italy is not only the cradle of a renaissance of universal artistic and historical heritage, but also a dynamic nation, a pillar of Europe, and a major economic and cultural actor.” 

For students, the Rector said, learning Italian represents “a great opportunity for scientific research” and will also “facilitate access to highly qualified employment both in the country and abroad.”

Also speaking during the January 12 event, Cardinal Ambongo underscored the importance of the Italian language for the Catholic Church and the world, describing it as “a strategic language for the Church and for the entire world.” 

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The Local Ordinary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kinshasa, who also serves as the President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), recalled that the Italian language holds a central place in the life of the universal Church, particularly at the Vatican.

Addressing students, the Congolese member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap) noted that learning a language is an experience of encounter. 

“Learning a language is never merely an elite exercise; it is an experience of meeting the other. It is learning to inhabit another symbolic universe,” he said. 

Cardinal Ambongo described Italian as a language in which “humanism, art, faith, and social relations converge,” noting that it is “the language of the College of Cardinals and of the Supreme Pontiff.”

He encouraged students to see their training as a bridge between cultures, saying, “Italian will make you builders of bridges between peoples, between Africa and Europe, and between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Italy.” 

Cardinal Ambongo further said that learners of the Italian language would, in a sense, become “ambassadors of new relations between the Congolese and Italian peoples.”

The initiative, supported financially by the Italian government through its embassy in Kinshasa, was warmly welcomed by students, many of whom said the opening of ELIO finally offers them the opportunity to study Italian “within a structured academic framework.”

Classes at the Omnia Italian Language School are set to begin this week at the university’s Saïo and Righini campuses.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.