The salutary example of Floribert Bwana Chui who will be beatified on June 15

A few months before the end of his pontificate, Pope Francis had recognized the status of martyr of this 26 -year -old young man died in 2007.

Floribert Bwana Chui was a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio and Commissioner within the Congolese Control Office (OCC), the National Authority for Customs Control and Goods. As such, he was responsible for assessing the compliance of the products passing the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A difficult task in this region of the world where violence is accompanied by many corruption and falsification practices. By noting the entry of damaged foodstuffs from neighboring Rwanda who had not obtained the necessary authorizations, Floribert Bwana Chui opposed their marketing, to preserve potential consumers. Thus, he destroyed outdated rice lots of rice and refused bribes. “The money will disappear quickly. As for these people who would have consumed these products, what would have happened to them?” Had justified Floribert. “Do I live for Christ or not? That’s why I cannot accept. Better to die than accept this money. ”

On Saturday July 7, 2007, Floribert disappeared at the exit of a store, removed by force and taken to a car. Despite research, no one manages to regain its trace. Two days later, at noon, a biker discovered his lifeless body. The brands of blows and torture bear witness to the suffering endured. The autopsy will set his death on July 8, which has become day of its liturgical party.

A martyr in the face of corruption

His courageous attitude, which cost him his life, made him a martyr because of his moral integrity.

“He clearly made his choice for God until the end and chose to die to live in Christ,” says his mother, Gertrude Kamara Ntawiha who continues to pray to his son so that peace returns to the eastern region of the DRC, where the population continues to live a ordeal for several decades. Désiré Pengele, civil servant of the control office (OCS), well known Floribert who was part of a generation of students who had joined the institution in 2006.

“We started our day with Floribert with the morning mass at the Parish of Sainte-Anne, in Gombe, very close to our offices,” he recalls. He also remembers the Christian commitment of the young man, within the parish and always busy reading, constantly learning. At the time of Floribert’s kidnapping, Désiré remembers having a dream in which her friend told him three times “keeps strong!”, While he was not aware of the drama that was played at this moment. A few hours later, he learned that his dead body had just been found.

For Archbishop Faustin Ngabu, then bishop of Goma, this beatification is an honor for the Laïcat and the youth of the DR Congo, “an appeal to more commitment of each for more justice, peace and fraternity in faith and confidence in the risen Christ”.

In front of thousands of young people gathered in the Kinshasa stadium on February 2, 2023, during his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pope Francis also said: “I remember the testimony of a young man like you, Floribert: when he was only twenty-six years old, he was killed in Goma for not letting the country of damaged foodstuffs enter, which would have affected the health of the population. He could have let it go, we could not know it and he would even have won. Honest, saying no to the dirt of corruption.

With his beatification, Floribert Bwana Chui will become the fourth Congolese blessed. The other three, a nun, a layman and a priest, had been beatified with three Xaverian missionaries there is one in the Congo.