Roman Catholicism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Roman Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.

Of a population of 70,916,439, there are about 35 million Catholics in the country, representing about half of the total population There are six archdioceses and 41 dioceses. The largest of these is the Archdiocese of Kinshasa; the Vicar General of Kinshasa, Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Nlandu Mayi, is an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy For Life.

The impact of the Roman Catholic Church in the DRC is difficult to overestimate. Schatzberg has called it the country's "only truly national institution apart from the state." Besides involving over 40 percent of the population in its religious services, its schools have educated over 60 percent of the nation's primary school students and more than 40 percent of its secondary students. The church owns and manages an extensive network of hospitals, schools, and clinics, as well as many diocesan economic enterprises, including farms, ranches, stores, and artisans' shops.

For earlier history see Roman Catholic Church in Kongo.

The church's penetration of the country at large is a product of the colonial era. The Belgian colonial state authorized and subsidized the predominantly Belgian Roman Catholic missions to establish schools and hospitals throughout the colony; the church's function from the perspective of the state was to accomplish Belgium's "civilizing mission" by creating a healthy, literate, and disciplined work force, one that was obedient to the governing authorities. From the perspective of the church, evangelization was the primary goal, and the number of converts baptized was the measure of its success. Although different in emphasis, church and state goals were sufficiently complementary that the state and church were perceived by the population as sharing the same purpose. As Joseph Cardinal Malula, who was for many years the head of the church in Zaire, put it, "For our people, the Church was the State, and the State was the Church." When independence came in 1960, the bill for church collaboration came due; Roman Catholic personnel were the frequent subjects of attacks by angry Congolese throughout the country, while Protestant missionaries and Kimbanguist personnel were, outside of Bas-Zaïre Region, largely spared.

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