When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Geopolitics

Minerals And Violence: A Papal Condemnation Of African Exploitation, Circa 2023

Before heading to South Sudan to continue his highly anticipated trip to Africa, the pontiff was in the Democratic Republic of Congo where he delivered a powerful speech, in a country where 40 million Catholics live.

Minerals And Violence: A Papal Condemnation Of African Exploitation, Circa 2023
Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — You may know the famous Joseph Stalin quote: “The Pope? How many divisions has he got?” Pope Francis still has no military divisions to his name, but he uses his voice, and he does so wisely — sometimes speaking up when no one else would dare.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (the former Belgian Congo, a region plundered and martyred, before and after its independence in 1960), Francis has chosen to speak loudly. Congo is a country with 110 million inhabitants, immensely rich in minerals, but populated by poor people and victims of brutal wars.

That land is essential to the planetary ecosystem, and yet for too long, the world has not seen it for its true value.

The words of this 86-year-old pope, who now moves around in a wheelchair, deserve our attention. He undoubtedly said what a billion Africans are thinking: "Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered!"


The pontiff pronounced these strong words shortly after he arrived in Kinshasa. But unfortunately, those are only words, for the Pope does not hold the power to change things. Still, what he said will most likely resonate for a long time on the African continent.

Photo of Pope Francis waving to a crowd from the top of a car in Kinshasa

Pope Francis in Kinshasa on Feb. 2

rdcpresidence's official Instagram account

The shock of violence

But the Pope’s message was both an inaugural intervention, and a long-term ambition being finally voiced. The Pope has been able to witness what kind of violence the RDC is going through, by talking with victims of violence that is shaking the east of the country. There, indeed, are where most of the coveted minerals lie. And there, atrocious things happen: murders, mutilations, rapes.

The Pope listened "shocked" to all of the testimonies: He added, “We are left without words; we can only weep in silence.”

But how to end the spiral of violence that is occurring in the east of the country, which has lasted for decades, and killed millions? Even the presence of the largest force of UN peacekeeping “blue helmets” has no chance of changing the situation.

The Pope wants to place the Church on the people’s side.

The troubled role of Rwanda came into the conversation. Rwanda is accused by Kinshasa, but also by the international community, of fueling this violence; but it’s not the only country to blame.

Challenging local bishops

The pastoral ambition of the Pope’s visit is obviously to reinforce and perpetuate the presence of the Catholic Church in the African continent. Part of the Church’s future depends on this enterprise. The DRC illustrates that point particularly well: the country has some 40 million Catholics, and the Pope brings together more than a million people at each event.

By making himself the outspoken advocate of Africans facing the ambitions of the world’s most powerful countries, Francis wants to place the Church on the people’s side. Doing that, he appears more daring than the local church leaders on the continent, who often hold more conservative positions.

Pope Francis pointed out one of the greatest contradictions of our time during his trip: the minerals needed for the ecological transition largely come from the DRC. Their extraction is a source of conflict, exploitation, and greed. Perhaps the world could listen to this truth before the contradiction swallows us all.


You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

How Biden's Mideast Stance Weakens Israel And Emboldens Iran

The West's decision to pressure Israel over Gaza, and indulge Iran's violent and troublesome regime, follows the U.S. Democrats' line with the Middle East: just keep us out of your murderous affairs.

Photo of demonstration against U.S President Joe Biden in Iran

Demonstration against U.S President Joe Biden in Iran.

Bahram Farrokhi

-OpEd-

The Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weak both structurally and for its dismal popularity level, which has made it take some contradictory, or erratic, decisions in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

Other factors influencing its decisions include the pressures of the families of Hamas hostages, and the U.S. administration's lukewarm support for this government and entirely reactive response to the military provocations and "hit-and-run" incidents orchestrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies, which include Hamas. Israel has also failed to mobilize international opinion behind its war on regional terrorism, in what might be termed a full-blown public relations disaster.

The administration led by President Joe Biden has, by repeating the Democrats' favored, and some might say feeble, policy of appeasing Iran's revolutionary regime, duly nullified the effects of Western sanctions imposed on that regime. By delisting its proxies, the Houthis of Yemen, as terrorists, the administration has allowed them to devote their energies to firing drones and missiles across the Red Sea and even indulging in piracy. The general picture is of a moment of pitiful weakness for the West, in which Iran and other members of the Axis - of Evil or Resistance, take your pick - are daily cocking a snook at the Western powers.

You wonder: how could the United States, given its military and technological resources, fail to spot tankers smuggling out banned Iranian oil through the Persian Gulf to finance the regime's foreign entanglements, while Iran is able to track Israeli-owned ships as far aways as the Indian Ocean? The answer, rather simply, lies in the Biden administration's decision to indulge the ayatollahs and hope for the best.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest