Democratic Republic of the Congo
In Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a bishop translated the Gospel into concrete actions: a university, hospitals, a road.
On the occasion of the 26th anniversary of his death (October 4, 2000 – October 4, 2026), we remember a pastor who turned resilience into a work of mercy.
Ordained a priest in 1958, the first black bishop of Butembo-Beni in 1966, and later archbishop of Bukavu in 1997, Msgr. Emmanuel Kataliko never separated the altar from the land. For him, feeding the hungry, instructing the ignorant, and caring for the sick were not slogans, but projects to be accomplished.
1. Instructing: UCG as a spiritual work of mercy
In an isolated and hard-to-reach region, he founded the Catholic University of Graben (UCG) in Butembo. This is not merely a university, but an answer to youth emigration. It is a tangible way to put spiritual works of mercy into practice: counseling the doubtful and instructing the ignorant, so that young people can preserve their dignity and build their future on their own land.
2. Healing and breaking isolation: the body and the road
He built schools and hospitals, but above all he built the Butembo-Kyavinyonge road. In an area scarred by war, a road becomes a corporal work of mercy: it allows farmers to sell their produce, the sick to reach the hospital, and life to keep flowing when everything seems bent on suffocating it.
3. A word that endures
Confronted with the occupation of Eastern Congo in the late 1990s, he launched an appeal that became prophetic, one that the inhabitants of Beni-Lubero still repeat today:
«Never accept being devoured. Even if they manage to swallow you, never let them digest you. Be indigestible. Resist».
This is not a call to violence, but to spiritual resistance: standing firm and preserving one’s dignity.
On this October 4, 2026, in Butembo as in Bukavu, communities commemorate him. Honoring Kataliko means not just remembering him, but continuing his works of mercy: building where there is destruction, educating where minds are subdued, and remaining indigestible in the face of injustice.
May his example inspire today’s missionaries, supported by spazio + spadoni, to turn mercy into an infrastructure of hope.
Image created digitally by spazio + spadoni
