__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
CONGO
Archbishop allowed to return from exile
Dies of heart attack first
He survived civil war, all kinds of harassment, and seven months of exile from his diocese—only to die of a heart attack while in Rome for an important meeting of African bishops.
The sudden death during the night of October 3 of 68-year-old Archbishop Emmanuel Kataliko of Bukavu, in the southeastern Kivu region of the Democratic Congo—who was recently elected vice-president of the bishops’ conference of the country once known as Zaire—was a blow to all the participants at the 12th general assembly of the Symposium of Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) being held at Rocca di Papa, just outside Rome.
Catholics in Archbishop Kataliko’s see of Bukavu, fearing that he may have been poisoned, requested an autopsy. But fellow bishops who saw him a few hours before his death report that Archbishop Kataliko “was not well; he was tired and very pale.”
Archbishop Kataliko was born at Lukale, in the diocese of Butembo-Beni, in 1932. Ordained a priest in 1958 and a bishop in 1966, he had been Archbishop of Bukavu since 1997.
Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP), sent a telegram of condolence to Cardinal Frederic Etsou Nzabi Bamungwabi of Kinsahsa, the president of the Congo bishops’ conference. The message read, “We pray for the repose of his soul, for his archdiocese, for the whole region of Kivu and the Church in Congo, which he loved and served with generosity and apostolic zeal, to the very last instant of his life.”
“The death of Archbishop Kataliko is a great loss for the Church in Africa. He was a zealous shepherd, and he exerted great influence in his diocese and all over Kivu, the region of Congo occupied by foreign troops,” said Archbishop Marcello Zago, the CEP Secretary. “The native and foreign invaders of this area realized this and tried to remove him from the area. Archbishop Kataliko stayed in Bukavu amidst all sorts of difficulties until he was prevented from doing so, and even then he did not flee; he did everything he could to return to his diocese. He is truly an example for all the bishops of Africa.”
On September 14, Archbishop Kataliko was at last able to return to his archdiocese after a long, painful exile. He had been absent since March 12 when rebels of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD) forced him to remain in Kinshasa where he had been meeting with his fellow bishops. He later moved to his native diocese of Butembo where he remained for the balance of his exile as a guest of the bishop there.
The rebels were angered when Archbishop Kataliko sided with the people who were suffering under the occupation of foreign troops. In a pastoral letter for Christmas 1999, he complained that “foreign troops, with the collaboration of some Congolese brothers, organize war with the country’s resources.”
Congo’s Cardinal Etsou did all he could to help Archbishop Kataliko return to his archdiocese. The cardinal himself made a 10-day visit in September to the eastern region of Congo where foreign troops are occupying the territory. In response to pressure from many sides, the rebels said that, as “part of a policy of reconciliation,” they would allow Archbishop Kataliko to return to Bukavu.
Archbishop Kataliko was buried in Bukavu amid protests by the estimated 10,000 people who came out to honor the prelate. Residents who attended the funeral said Bizima Karaha, the intelligence chief who represented the rebel RCD, was pelted with stones during the funeral procession. However, he didn’t sustain any injuries, residents said, and the funeral passed without any other incidents.
The city’s residents also protested neighboring Rwanda’s support for the rebels in their civil war against Congolese President Laurent Kabila. Despite a peace accord signed a year ago by all sides in the war, fighting in Congo has intensified.
Back to Catholic World Report November 2000 Table of Contents