By ACI Africa

ACI Africa, Nov. 5, 2024 / 3:00 p.m.

Cardinal Fridolin AmbongoOFM Cap, the local Ordinary Archdiocese of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and president of the Colloquium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SCEAM), questioned the “rushed beatification” of King Baudouin of Belgium.

Ambongo, who spoke at a press briefing in Rome days before conclusion of the Synod on synodality, weighed on the speech of Pope Francis on September 29 surprise announcement to the thousands of participants during the mass at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels that “on my return to Rome, I will open the process of beatification of King Baudouin”.

Amid the cheers and applause of the participants, the Holy Father then called the deceased Catholic who had chosen to temporarily abdicate his throne rather than signing a law legalizing abortion a man of faith who serves as an example to today’s leaders.

Pope Francis also called on Belgium’s Catholic bishops to “commit” to advancing the cause of Baudouin’s canonization.

At the Oct. 22 press conference in Rome, Ambongo said that even if Pope Francis’ statements were in line with the “wish of the Church in Belgium,” the late Catholic king of Belgium would have been linked to the assassination in 1961 of the Congolese Prime Minister. from the DRC, Patrice Lumumba.

“There is still this file, which we can describe as a black spot,” the cardinal said in what was described as raising “a red flag» about the announcement made by the pope during his pastoral visit to Belgium in September.

The cardinal stressed the need to “search into the past to see what is there” and added that in reference to the late Belgian king, “we do not know the twists and turns of his life.”

Ambongo, however, said he was open to the beatification of King Baudouin “if his file progresses well”.

“For us, he (Baudouin) is a politician who was courageous in the Belgian context; he was very courageous,” Ambongo said. “We say that it was he who gave independence to the Congo.”

“If the matter evolves in the direction desired by some, in order to present him for beatification, we are open to it,” he said.

King Baudouin’s more than 40-year reign, from 1951 to 1993, was brand by intense social, political and religious upheavals in Belgium and around the world. Despite all these changes, Baudouin is said to have carried out his duties with total dedication to his country and his Catholic faith, constituting one of the few unifying factors in Belgium for which he was loved by his people.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s information partner in Africa, and was adapted by CNA.

ACI Africa (www.aciafricanews.com) is a service of EWTN News Inc. (www.ewtnnews.com) with the Catholic Press Agency. It was officially inaugurated on August 17, 2019 as the continental Catholic news agency serving the Church in Africa. Based in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, this media apostolate will strive to tell the news of Africa by providing media coverage of Catholic events on the African continent and giving visibility to the activities of the Church through Africa. The editor-in-chief of ACI Africa is Father Don Bosco Onyalla.