[AFRICANEWS] The Archbishop of Kinshasa's Christmas message is likely to cause further tension between the Catholic church and the state in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo , which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
Preaching during Christmas eve mass, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo accused the authorities of failing to bring about peace, and to end the misery of the population.
Ambongo said that the country was living through 'hellish conditions', citing war in the east and widespread poverty.
It is not the first time Ambongo is issuing a stinging criticism of President Felix Tshisekedi's government.
Earlier this year, prosecutors opened a judicial inquiry against him for what they called ''seditious comments''.
Ambongo was accused of ''incitement'' after speaking out against insecurity in the east of the country, where the army is fighting the M23 rebels, during his Easter Mass.
The Catholic Church in the DRC has been a vocal critic of corruption, human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
abuses, and bad governance for decades. 
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