The Self-Understanding of the Congolese Church during War: CENCO in the Grip of the Greatest Modern Humanitarian Crisis

This article analyses how the National Conference of Congolese Catholic Bishops (CENCO) identified its public mission in society as veilleurs et éveilleurs des consciences (custodians and awakeners of consciences). This perception emerged because of external pressures, namely the phenomenon of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. The argument is developed in four steps. First, I offer a succinct account of the period of war since 1996 and the magnitude of the havoc wreaked on the people of the DRC. Next, I consider the historical background of CENCO. Third, I discuss the organisation and some most important modern bishops of CENCO. Fourth, I analyse how CENCO perceived the role of the Catholic Church in this troubled society and how this acute consciousness emboldened the Congolese Catholic Church to tackle the woes of the deadliest war in recent history. Finally, I draw some implications and address challenges that CENCO faces when it intersects with politics.