DR Congo’s would-be saint murdered ‘mafia style’ for refusing bribes

Two days after he was kidnapped in July 2007, the bloody and battered body of Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kesi was thrown out of a university campus in Goma, east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The new graduate 26 -year -old and religious Catholic refused to be bribed and lasted only three months as a customs official he undertook with his usual effort.

He stood up to people who wanted to escape from neighboring Rwanda in rumors and could be poisonous if he was defeated. No one was arrested for killing.

Kesi’s Catholic Campaign, Adam Fr Francesco Tedeschi, said that the murder of the “mafia style” murder serves as a warning to everyone who keeps up with corruption – in a part of the world where weapons tend to focus on the superiority of law.

Goma is the capital of the northern kiwi province, which is rich in cute minerals, such as those who strengthen mobile phones and is abundant in rebel and militia groups.

However, Fr Tedeschi believes that the warning was completely unsuccessful due to the legacy of love and justice of Kosisi and said that he showed his kindness today during his short life.

In a place where corruption was norm, he was informed of the belief of actions.

He was strong enough to resist the proposals repeated by smugglers.

According to the Catholic Sant’igidio community to which he a member, he was offered to Kositi first, $ 1,000 (£ 750), then $ 2,000 and more “, but he constantly said no.

He continued: “Even from the public officials, as everyone else did a blind eye to get a fee to get the fee and had printdles.” Sant’igidio said the community.

Last year, the Catholic Church declared him a martyr because he felt that his death was the result of his reluctance to sacrifice Christian values for money.

In the Catholic tradition, a saint serves as a model of Christian life and is considered a hero of faith with its extraordinary actions of courage.

Since then, he was defeated by a ceremony in Rome last month, that is, a miracle will be a saint after attributing it to him.

So far, the canonization – the process of saintly – sometimes it could take dozens or centuries – because it was an extremely fast journey. If the church decides that someone dies for their beliefs.

Kosti, born in Goma in 1981, was the largest of three brothers and eight half brothers, according to a biography written by Sant’igidio and describing him that he had come from a “good condition”. His father was a bank officer and his mother border police officer.

“Floribert Bwana Chui was a clever and beautiful child from birth. He was a polite child who respected his family. I saw a bright future in him. His mother Gertrude Kamara Ntawiha was waiting for a child who would get married and have a child. UN sponsored radio told Okapi Last month, before going to Rome for the fight of Kesi’s two little brothers.

Despite the difficulties of living in Eastern Dr Congo, Kesi was always wondering about the world, he was successful in school and continued to study law at the university.

During his studies, he attended a regional student conference in Rwanda in 2001 and changed the course of his life.

An Italian priest made a speech at the meeting that brought people together to discuss the ways to find peace and live in the region of resting.

He spoke on behalf of the Sant’igidio community, a social work of both non -professions and clergymen, and encouraged the priest students to adopt a pastoral task.

When Fr Tedeschi approached his Kositi, he had not almost finished speaking at the auditorium in Southern Rwanda’s leafy university town buttar.

“This conversation touched Floribert and other friends from Goma.” He said.

“He wanted to start a Sant’igidio community in Goma. [He was] A young man full of joy with the desire to be useful to the world, with the desire to change what he saw around. “

Fr Tedeschi assumed Kosti’s task – and especially his efforts focused on helping street children.

The region around Goma knows decades of clashes and is now in a center of rebellion that seizes the area of a powerful rebel group and seizes the areas surrounding it.

The kositi that was very affected by the fate of the children caught in consecutive traumas was established One of Sant’igidio’s “Peace Schools” – offers children food and other help to study.

Today, Goma’s Peace School was elected in honor of her and became a real school.

However, in the early 2000s, the young license usually helped street children financially with school fees or food – or it helps them to confidence in a city where almost everyone is fighting.

“What impressed me,” Fr Tedeschi said, “Floribert, who took the lives of others very seriously and, more importantly, would ask many questions to understand what the roots of poverty are – the misfortune of people.

“He liked to confront these problems.”

Access of Kositi He went beyond the borders of the Congo. In Kigali, the capital of Rwanda in the east of 100km (60 miles) of Goma, Bernard Musana Segatagara, a member of Sant’agidio, remembers her.

“It was our common dream to change Africa and to build peace, to observe a growing friendship network. I think living in a tension zone made our friendship even more special.”

After graduating in 2006, Kesi was in Rwanda and Dr. Before taking a senior task at the border between the Congo, he started training as a customs official in the capital Kinshasa.

The rice dispute contained a four or five -ton shipment – he tested it because he was worried about his safety and then ordered it to be destroyed.

“At first the smugglers pushed him to bribe and threaten him, and Floribert always rejected him.” He said.

“He rejected on the basis of Christian principles. At some point he asked a doctor – a nun working in Goma, a friend, so that he could really understand the dangers that this rice would represent to the civilian population.

“And he made him think about him: ‘As a Christian, I can neither accept money nor face the risk of dying because of these poisonous foods.’ ‘

For the priest, this is what shows his loyalty to the Bible, the Christian values of love for one’s neighbor [and] justice”.

Lawyer Jean Jacques Bakinahe, who works with the incision at the University of Goma and is also one of the leaders of Sant’igidio in the city, agrees the same.

Rwanda Catholic Church told the TV channel that his friend said, “He was deeply following the Gospel of Peace … [which] He really helped him reject this corruption action categorically. “

But ultimately led to his death.

“[The smugglers] I wanted to send a message… A mafia -style warning, Frr Fr Tedeschi said.

At that time he acknowledged that he might have scared some customs authorities, but he said he could not manage to do it. [people] Forget the expressions of love and justice that Floribert gave us. “

The deceased Pope Francis in February 2023. When he visited Congo, he spoke to young people in the main stadium in Kinshasa and called on to follow the example of Kesi.

“A young like yourself, Floribert Bwana Chui … Only 26 years old, Goma was killed for preventing the passage of spoiled foodstuffs that would be harmful to people’s health.” He said.

“He prayed for being a Christian. He thought of others and chose to be honest – he said no to the filth of corruption.

“If someone offers you a bribe or promises you good and money, do not fall into the trap. Do not be deceived! Do not be absorbed into the swamp of evil!” he said.

In June, Papa Leo XIV, the successor of the Beatication ceremony in St Paul Papal Basilica, Dr. He took part in a more promising future for the young people of Congo.

“This African martyr shows how young people can lead to peace on a rich continent in young people,” Pontiff said. He said.

Currently, the Christian martyr, who has the title of “blessed” before his name, was full of flags swinging cheerful Kongol Sadık in Basilica.

“The long -awaited peace in Kivu, Kivu, Congo and all Africa, come soon – with the intercession of the Virgin Mary and the blessed Floribert.” He said.

If peace was to be delivered to Goma, where two common peace processes were continuing, it would have really been a miracle worthy of a saints and gave hope to the entire region.