A Congolese customs official who resisted corruption is beatified by the Vatican
Faithful wore T-shirts and vests with Kositi's portrait and erupted in chants and applause as soon as the beatification ceremony was concluded, waving Congolese flags.
Advertisement
Kositi was kidnapped and killed in 2007 after he refused to allow rancid rice from Rwanda to be transported across the border to the eastern Congo city of Goma.
As an official with the Congolese government's custom's quality control office, the 26-year-old knew the risks of resisting bribes offered to public officials. But he also knew the risks of allowing spoiled food to be distributed to the most desperate.
'On that day, those mafiosi found themselves in front of a young man who, in the name of the Gospel, said 'No.' He opposed,' his friend Aline Minani said. 'And Floribèrt, I think that for me personally, I would say for all young people, is a role model.'
Advertisement
'Our country almost holds the gold medal for corruption among the countries of the world,' Goma Bishop Willy Ngumbi told reporters last week. 'Here, corruption is truly endemic. So, if we could at least learn from this boy's life that we must all fight corruption … I think that would be very important.'
Transparency International last year gave Congo one of the poorest marks on its corruption perception index, ranking it 163 out of 180 countries surveyed and 20 on the organization's 0-100 scale, with 0 highly corrupt and 100 very clean.
The beatification has brought joy to Goma at a time of anguish.
It has renewed the hopes of many in the country of more than 100 million people whose development has been stifled by chronic corruption, which Francis railed about during his
Speaking at the Kinshasa stadium then, Francis said Kositi 'could easily have turned a blind eye; nobody would have found out, and he might even have gotten ahead as a result. But since he was a Christian, he prayed. He thought of others and he chose to be honest, saying no to the filth of corruption.'
Advertisement
The Italian priest who spearheaded Kositi's sainthood case, the Rev. Francesco Tedeschi, knew him through their work with the Saint'Egidio Community. He broke down Saturday as he recounted Kositi's example and Francis' call for the church to recognize the ordinary holiness in the 'saints next door.'
'In the end, this was what Floribert was, because he was just a boy,' Tedeschi said as he began weeping.
On Sunday, worshippers gathered at the Saint Joseph Cathedral in Goma to follow Kositi's beatification ceremony live. Outside of the cathedral, some bought photos and cloth featuring his portrait.
Olive Njemba, a 65-year-old mother who was close to Kositi's family, was one of them.
'Those who killed him thought that it was the end of his life, but Almighty God raised him up, and that is our joy,' Njemba said while wearing the commemorative cloth she just bought. 'For us mothers, we have great joy in buying this to celebrate our child who is now blessed.'
Inside the church, Abbé Célestin Kanyabiriri, head of the pastoral commission, made a brief speech ahead of the ceremony.
'This event is not only for Catholics — he is a model for all of us,' Kanyabiriri said.
'The fact that he was chosen from our diocese, for me, is a sign that the Lord is inviting us to be apostles of honesty, apostles of moral integrity ... in order to fight against corruption — a cancer that has plagued our country from independence to today, especially starting from the very top of power,' he added.
At Goma's Floribert Bwana Chui School of Peace, which is named in honor of Kositi and advocates for social justice, his beatification is encouraging everyone who sees him as a role model, school director Charles Kalimba told the Associated Press.
Advertisement
'It's a lesson for every generation, for the next generation, for the present generation and for all people. Floribert's life is a positive point that must be presented to the Congolese nation. We are in a country where corruption is almost allowed, and this is a challenge that must be taken up,' Kalimba said.
Tedeschi said the martyr designation recognized Kositi died out of hatred for the faith, because his decision to not accept the spoiled food was inspired by the Christian idea of the dignity of everyone, especially the poor.
Being declared a martyr exempts Kositi from the requirement that a miracle must be attributed to his intercession before he is beatified, thereby fast-tracking the process to get to the first step of sainthood. The Vatican must, however, confirm a miracle attributed to his intercession for him to be canonized, a process that can take years or more.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
Ezra Miller has 'a lot of remorse' for past controversies, talks Hollywood comeback
After a shaky time in the spotlight, Ezra Miller isn't ready to sprint back to Hollywood. "The Flash" star, whose Hollywood ascent was derailed amid mounting legal issues, addressed their past controversies and future in the entertainment industry in an interview with Lo Speciale Giornale published June 19. Miller, 32, spoke to the Italian outlet shortly after attending the Cannes Film Festival in May for their first major red-carpet appearance since falling from grace. Miller said they appeared at the renowned film festival at the request of their friend, "Die My Love" director Lynne Ramsay, adding that their relationship with the movie industry is on "tentative grounds." "If you've been in the woods for three years, I do not recommend going straight to Cannes, where every photographer and every weirdo, every rich genocidal freak (will) be there, you know what I mean?" Miller said. "It's not an easy reentry." 10 bingeable memoirs to check out: Celebrities tell all about aging, marriage and Beyoncé Miller broke out on the big screen in 2012 with a role in the coming-of-age drama "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," later playing Credence Barebone in the Harry Potter "Fantastic Beasts" franchise (2016-2022) and superhero speedster Barry Allen in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016) and "Justice League" (2017). But in 2022, a series of highly publicized scandals cast a shadow on Miller's rising star. The actor was arrested in Hawaii on a charge of disorderly conduct in March, followed by an arrest on suspicion of assault in April. A few months later, Miller was accused of grooming an 18-year-old activist by the teen's parents and also charged with felony burglary in a separate incident in Vermont (Miller pleaded not guilty). "Not that I don't hold a lot of remorse and lamentation for a lot of things that I did and for a lot of things that happened in that time, but I'm really, really grateful for the lessons that came with that abyss," Miller reflected. Ezra Miller's past legal troubles: What to know about actor's controversies In an August 2022 statement to USA TODAY, Miller said they were undergoing treatment for "complex mental health issues" following the string of criminal and abuse allegations brought against them: "I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life." "When we go through those crucibles, if we can survive, which was up in the air for me if I'm being real, we then have that capacity to see other people in their crucibles and just to reach towards them," Miller told Lo Speciale Giornale. "That grows more and more rarefied in our world, too. Like, the capacity to do that, the desire to do that, the willingness to do that." "The Flash" premiered in June 2023 and despite earning mixed reviews from critics, the DC superhero flick grossed $271.4 million worldwide. While Miller hasn't appeared in a major project since the film's release, the actor said they've been "writing a lot," including working with Ramsay on a movie that will "likely" be their first new release. Contributing: Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY
9 hours ago
The recovered Bayesian superyacht takes its final journey to a Sicilian port
PORTICELLO, Italy -- A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, started its final trip Sunday, a day after recovery crews completed the complex operation to lift it out of the water. The white top and blue hull of the 56-meter (184-foot) Bayesian, covered with algae and mud, was kept elevated by the yellow floating crane barge off the port of Porticello, before starting its transfer to Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle was waiting. The vessel will be made available for investigators for further examinations to help determine the cause of the sinking. The Bayesian sank Aug. 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the U.S. on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. The vessel was slowly raised from the seabed 50 meters (165 feet) deep over three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. The Bayesian is missing its 72-meter (236-foot) mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be raised. British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by 'extreme wind' and couldn't recover. The report said the crew of the Bayesian had chosen the site where it sank as shelter from forecast thunderstorms. Wind speeds exceeded 70 knots (81 mph) at the time of the sinking and 'violently' knocked the vessel over to a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds.
Hamilton Spectator
14 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
The recovered Bayesian superyacht transferred to Sicilian port on its final journey
PORTICELLO, Italy (AP) — A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, started its final trip to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese on Sunday, a day after recovery crews completed the complex operation to bring it ashore. The white top and blue hull of the 56-meter (184-foot) Bayesian, covered with algae and mud, was kept elevated by the yellow floating crane barge off the port of Porticello, before starting its transfer to Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle was waiting. The vessel will be made available for investigators for further examinations to help determine the cause of the sinking. The Bayesian sank Aug. 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the U.S. on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation . The vessel was slowly raised from the seabed 50 meters (165 feet) deep over three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. The Bayesian is missing its 72-meter (236-foot) mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be raised. British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by 'extreme wind' and couldn't recover. The report said the crew of the Bayesian had chosen the site where it sank as shelter from forecast thunderstorms. Wind speeds exceeded 70 knots (81 mph) at the time of the sinking and 'violently' knocked the vessel over to a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
