Pope urges youth to shun corruption

POPE Francis yesterday urged tens of thousands of young people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to work towards a better future and shun corruption in the deeply Catholic country, which is plagued by violence in its east.

The 86-year-old pontiff arrived at Martyrs’ stadium in the capital, Kinshasa on his popemobile, offering blessings to an ecstatic crowd, who roared and danced in the stands.

Young people started to flock to the 80 000-capacity stadium overnight.

Yesterday, organisers put the size of the crowd at 65 000, on the third day of the Argentine’s visit to Africa’s biggest Catholic country.

About 60% of the central African nation of roughly 100 million people are under the age of 20, according to UN figures. As well as conflict, young people face persistent unemployment.

Addressing the stadium, the pope urged the crowd to build a better future for the church and their country.

“You are part of a greater history, one that calls you to take an active role as a builder of communion, a champion of fraternity, an indomitable dreamer of a more united world,” he said. “Never give in to the persuasive but poisonous temptations of corruption,” he said in Italian, which was translated into the DRC’s official language, French. The pope asked the crowd to chant “no to corruption”after him. He also met Jesuit leaders and priests on the front line of the church’s work in the DRC.

About 40% of the country’s population is Catholic, according to official statistics, and the church retains huge influence despite secularism being enshrined in the constitution.

On Wednesday, the pope hosted a mass at Kinshasa’s airport that organisers said drew about a million people, some of whom had camped out all night to get a spot.

He then met victims of conflict in the DRC’s mineral-rich east, some of whom had suffered appalling violence.

He said the conflict was being driven by greed and called on combatants to lay down their arms.

Scores of armed groups roam eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two wars at the end of the 20th century that sucked in countries from around the region. The DRC is replete with minerals, timber and fresh water, yet remains one of the poorest countries in the world where corruption is entrenched.

Francis takes his appeal for peace and reconciliation to South Sudan today for a maiden three-day visit. Born in 2011 after gaining independence from Sudan, the nation has been battered by a civil conflict that left around 380 000 dead.

It is the pope’s 40th foreign trip since he ascended to the papacy in 2013. |