Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

This week the papal conclave is convened to appoint the new pope to succeed Francis who died on 21 April 2025. One of the possible successors is the Congolese archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungo (born 24 January 1960). Ambongo served as a parish priest and as a professor before his episcopal career and since becoming a bishop has been a leading voice among his conferees for national peace. He has served as Archbishop of Kinshasa since 2018 and is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Ambongo holds a degree in moral theological studies from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome, and speaks Italian. In 2019, Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal.

In 2016–18 he decried the repeated attempts of Congo President Joseph Kabila to push back the election in the Congo believing that it sets an alarming precedent and demonstrates the President's unwillingness to relinquish power. He defended those Catholics who organized pro-democratic demonstrations that drew violent responses from police forces. 

Other African candidates are Robert Sarah (79) and Peter Turkson (76).

(Source: Wikipedia accessed on 8 May 2025)

Selected publications

Arinze, Francis A, Christ’s new homeland - Africa: contribution to the Synod on the Family by African pastors (San Francisco, 2015).

Bongmba, Elias K, The Routledge companion to Christianity in Africa (New York, 2016).

Foster, Elizabeth Ann, Les catholiques africains: décolonisation et transformation de l’Église (Paris,2024).

Gifford, Paul, Christianity, development and modernity in Africa (London, 2015).

Gray, Richard, en Lamin Sanneh, Christianity, the papacy, and mission in Africa (Maryknoll, 2012).

Mbemba-Dya-bô-Benazo-Mbanzulu, Rudy, Un Muuntu à Rome: histoire d’un ambassadeur du roi Koongo au Vatican (Paris, 2021).

Ngong, David Tonghou, A new history of African Christian thought: from Cape to Cairo (New York, 2017).

Orobator, Agbonkhianmeghe, Practising reconciliation, doing justice, building peace: conversations on Catholic theological ethics in Africa (Nairobi, 2013).

Pope Francis in Africa: a message of hope. (Eldoret: AMECEA Gaba Publications - CUEA Press 2016).

Zalot, Jozef D, The Roman Catholic Church and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa: voices yet unheard in a listening world (Lanham, 2002).

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