Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya
{{short description|Congolese prelate of the Catholic Church (1939–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Cardinal
| honorific-prefix =His Eminence
| name = Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya
| honorific-suffix =
| title = Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Kinshasa
| image = Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya.jpg
| caption = Monsengwo Pasinya in 2007
| church = Catholic Church
| province = Kinshasa
| diocese =
| see = Kinshasa
| appointed = 6 December 2007
| enthroned = 2 February 2008
| ended = 1 November 2018
| predecessor = Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi
| successor = Fridolin Ambongo Besungu
| other_post = Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria "Regina Pacis" in Ostia mare
Member of the Council of Cardinals
| ordination = 21 December 1963
| ordained_by = Gregorio Pietro Agagianian
| consecration = 4 May 1980
| consecrated_by = Pope John Paul II
| cardinal = 20 November 2010
| created_cardinal_by = Pope Benedict XVI
| rank = Cardinal-Priest
| previous_post = {{unbulleted list|Auxiliary Bishop of Inongo (1980–1981)|Titular Bishop of Aquae Novae in Proconsulari (1980–1988)|Auxiliary Bishop of Kisangani (1981–1988)|Archbishop of Kisangani (1988–2007)}}
| birth_name = Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1939|10|07}}
| birth_place = Mongobele, Belgian Congo
| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|7|11|1939|10|7|df=y}}
| death_place = Versailles, France
| buried =
| nationality = Congolese
| religion =
| residence =
| parents =
| alma_mater =
| motto = In fide veritatis
({{langx|en|In faith truth}})
| signature =
| coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya.svg
}}
Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya (7 October 1939 – 11 July 2021) was a Congolese prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the Archbishop of Kinshasa from 2007 to 2018. He became a cardinal in 2010. He was widely recognized as a champion of peace, dialogue, and human rights.
Early years
Monsengwo Pasinya was born in Mongobele, Diocese of Inongo. He belonged to one of the royal families of Basakata; his second name, Monsengwo, means "nephew of the traditional chief".
He did his initial ecclesiastical studies at the Seminary of Bokoro and furthered them at the Major Seminary of Kabwe where he studied philosophy. He was sent to Rome to attend the Pontifical Urban University, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute. He also studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem, where he was awarded a doctorate in biblical studies. He is the first African to obtain such a doctorate. He studied there under Carlo Maria Martini, S.J. who later became a cardinal and archbishop of Milan. He was ordained to the priesthood on 21 December 1963 in Rome. After his ordination he did pastoral work and served as a faculty member at the Theological Faculty of Kinshasa for several years. He was secretary-general of the Congolese Episcopal Conference from 1976 to 1980.
Episcopate
Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Bishop of Aquae Novae in Proconsulari and Auxiliary Bishop of Kisangani on 13 February 1980. He was consecrated on 4 May 1980 in Kinshasa by Pope John Paul II, assisted by Agnelo Rossi, Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Joseph Malula, Archbishop of Kinshasa. He served as president of the Congolese Episcopal Conference in 1980 and again in 1992. He was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Kisangani on 1 September 1988. When dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was losing his grip on power in the mid-1990s, the country needed someone of unimpeachable integrity to engineer the transition. Monsengwo Pasinya was appointed president of the Sovereign National Conference in 1991, president of the High Council of the Republic in 1992, and speaker of a Transitional Parliament in 1994.
Pope Benedict XVI transferred him to the metropolitan see of Kinshasa on 6 December 2007{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 6 December 2007 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 06.12.2007 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2007/12/06/0649/01746.html }} after the death of Cardinal Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi in January 2007. He served as Co-President of Pax Christi International from 2007 to 2010.
He served two terms as head of the Congolese Bishops Conference and was president of the episcopal conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) from 1997 to 2003.{{cite news|last1= Tom|first1= Heneghan |title= Influential Cardinal Monsengwo of Kinshasa dies in Paris at 81 |url= https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/14315/influential-cardinal-monsengwo-of-kinshasa-dies-in-paris-at-81 |work= The Tablet |access-date=12 July 2021 | date= 12 July 2012 | archive-date= 12 July 2021 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210712151919/https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/14315/influential-cardinal-monsengwo-of-kinshasa-dies-in-paris-at-81 }}
He participated in the Synod of Bishops on several occasions. John Paul named him a member of the 2001 Synod.{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 24 August 2001 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 24.08.2001 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2001/08/24/0460/01340.html }} Pope Benedict XVI named him special secretary for the Synod of Bishops held in October 2008,{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 23 August 2008 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 23.08.2008 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2008/08/23/0526/01224.html }} and delegate-president for that of 2012.{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 30 June 2012 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 30.06.2012 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2012/06/30/0396/00936.html }} Pope Francis named him a papal delegate to the Synod of 2015 on the family in the Church and the modern world.{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 15 September 2015 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= XIV Assemblea Generale Ordinaria del Sinodo dei Vescovi (4-25 ottobre 2015) - Elenco dei Partecipanti, 15.09.2015 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2015/09/15/0676/01469.html }}
In October 2009, addressing the Synod of Bishops' special assembly for Africa, he said:{{cite news| work= Zenit | access-date= 14 May 2019 | date = 13 October 2019 | url= https://zenit.org/articles/interventions-from-synod-s-12th-congregation/ | title= Interventions From Synod's 12th Congregation }}
{{Blockquote|Peace goes hand in hand with justice, justice with right, right with truth. Without justice, social peace is badly placed. Thus, the promotion of the State of Law is necessary, at any price, where the primacy of the law reigns, notably constitutional law; the States of Law where the arbitrary and subjectivity do not create the law of the jungle; States of Law where national sovereignty is recognized and respected; States of Law where to each one, its due is equitably rendered. Without truth, it is difficult to ensure justice and to speak of rights. The consequence of this is that right and not right have equal freedom of the city; which makes it impossible to have an harmonious order of things or “tranquillitas ordinis”. “In truth there is peace” (Benedict XVI). This is why in seeking peaceful solutions, all notable diplomatic and political approaches aim at reestablishing truth, justice and peace. Christ is our peace, He made peace, He proclaimed peace, so that all Jews and pagans could be made one people. Not by leaving each other with their privileges and their rights, but in abolishing exclusion, in pulling down the wall of cultural and social separation, in destroying the hatred which He crucified upon the cross with his body. Jews and Gentiles are no longer foreigners, or strangers, but close friends, fellow-citizens of the saints, and each one has the same heritage (Eph 3:6) having belonged in the past to the one Israel. In this way, He created a new man, to reconcile them both to God and to give them access to the Father through the Spirit. It is in doing away with all these barriers, exclusion, discriminatory laws in faith and society, and especially in killing hatred that one reconciles men and peace is made.}}
Pope John Paul named him a member of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on 22 April 2002.{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 22 April 2002 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 22.04.2002 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2002/04/22/0206/00627.html }} On 20 November 2010 Pope Benedict made him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Regina Pacis a Ostia Lido.{{cite news |title=Unbendable |url=http://www.economist.com/node/17306096?story_id=17306096&fsrc=rss |newspaper=The Economist |date=21 October 2010 |access-date=30 October 2010 }} On 11 December 2010, Benedict named him a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education,{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 11 December 2010 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 11.12.2010 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2010/12/11/0773/01770.html}} on 29 December 2010 of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 29 December 2010 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 29.12.2010 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2010/12/29/0811/01865.html }} on 10 December 2011 of the Pontifical Council for Culture,{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 10 December 2011 | publisher= Holy See Press Office |title= Rinunce e Nomine, 10.12.2011|url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2011/12/10/0736/01767.html}} on 29 December 2011 of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications,{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 29 December 2011 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 29.12.2011 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2011/12/29/0775/01867.html }} and on 5 March 2012 of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 5 March 2012 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 05.03.2012 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2012/03/05/0133/00296.html }}
In December 2011 Monsengwo Pasinya contradicted Kabila when he assessed the 2011 election in the Congo by saying the results "do not conform either to truth or to justice".{{cite news| work= New York Times| access-date= 14 May 2019| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/world/africa/congo-president-kabila-denies-reports-of-election-fraud.html | title= Congo President Kabila Denies Reports of Election Fraud | first= Adam | last = Nossiter| date= 12 December 2011}}
He was chosen to preach the Lenten spiritual exercises to Pope Benedict and the Roman Curia in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://congoplanet.com/news/1943/cardinal-monsengwo-pasinya-to-lead-lenten-spiritual-exercises-in-the-vatican.jsp |title=Cardinal Monsengwo to Lead Annual Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican |publisher=Congo Planet |date=11 February 2012 |access-date=19 February 2012}}{{cite press release| language=it | access-date = 14 May 2019 | date= 3 March 2012 | publisher= Holy See Press Office | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 03.03.2012 | url= http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2012/03/03/0129/00288.html }}
In 2013, Monsengwo Pasinya was mentioned as a possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI.{{cite news |title=The pope is 82. Who's next in line? |url=http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-82-whos-next-line |work=National Catholic Reporter |date=20 November 2010 |access-date=20 November 2010 }} He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis. On 13 April 2013, he was appointed to the Council of Cardinals, a group Pope Francis established a month after his election to advise him and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, Pastor Bonus.{{cite web |url=http://attualita.vatican.va/sala-stampa/bollettino/2013/04/13/news/30794.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=13 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428013340/http://attualita.vatican.va/sala-stampa/bollettino/2013/04/13/news/30794.html |archive-date=28 April 2013}}
Later life
In January 2018, even as he approached retirement, he continued to protest violence on Kabila's part against protesters calling on him to abide by the constitutional restrictions in his term of office.{{cite news| publisher= Catholic News Agency | access-date= 14 May 2019 | url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/37597/congolese-cardinal-denounces-violent-crackdown-on-protesters | title= Congolese cardinal denounces violent crackdown on protesters | date= 24 January 2018}}
Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Kinshasa on 1 November 2018.{{cite press release | date = 1 November 2018 | publisher = Holy See Press Office | lang=it | title = Rinunce e Nomine, 01.11.2018}} On 12 December 2018, the Vatican announced that Monsengwo Pasinya would be leaving the Council of Cardinals as part of his retirement as well.{{cite news| publisher= Reuters | access-date= 14 May 2019 | date = 12 December 2018 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-cardinals/pope-removes-two-cardinals-hit-by-scandal-from-group-of-close-advisers-idUSKBN1OB1G2 | first= Philip | last= Pullella | title= Pope removes two cardinals hit by sex scandals from group of close advisers }}{{cite news|work= Wall Street Journal | url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-cuts-three-cardinalstwo-tainted-by-scandalfrom-council-11544627142 | access-date=14 May 2014 | title= Pope Cuts Three Cardinals—Two Tainted by Scandal—From Council | date= 12 December 2018 | first= Francis X. | last= Rocca}}
He died on 11 July 2021 in Versailles, France; he had arrived there recently for medical care.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/fr/cardinal-laurent-monsengwo-pasinya-mort-paris-rdc-kinshasa-eglise/a-58231408|title=Le cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya est mort ce dimanche |trans-title=Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya died this Sunday |date=11 July 2021 |website=Deutsche Welle |first = Carole | last = Assignon | language=fr}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Grande-figure-lEglise-congolaise-cardinal-Monsengwo-mort-2021-07-11-1201165838|title=Grande figure de l'Église congolaise, le cardinal Monsengwo est mort |language=fr |trans-title=Great figure of the Congolese Church, Cardinal Monsengwo is dead |date=11 July 2021|first = Xavier | last= Le Normand | work=La Croix}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
{{commonscat}}
- {{cite web| access-date = 25 November 2017| title= Monsengwo Pasinya Card. Laurent |publisher= Holy See Press Office | url= https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_monsengwo-pasinya_l.html | url-status=live | archive-date= 23 October 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171023010454/https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_monsengwo-pasinya_l.html }}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=Braulio Sánchez Fuentes}}
{{s-tul|title=Titular Bishop of Aquæ novæ in Proconsulari|years=13 February 1980 – 1 September 1988}}
{{s-aft|after=Vilmos Dékány}}
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{{s-bef|before=Augustin Fataki Alueke}}
{{s-ttl|title=Archbishop of Kisangani|years=1 September 1988 – 6 December 2007}}
{{s-aft|after=Marcel Utembi Tapa}}
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{{s-bef|before=Michel Sabbah}}
{{s-ttl|title=International President of Pax Christi|years=3 November 2007 – March 2010}}
{{s-aft|after=Kevin Patrick Dowling}}
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{{s-bef|before=Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi}}
{{s-ttl|title=Archbishop of Kinshasa|years=6 December 2007 – 1 November 2018}}
{{s-aft|after=Fridolin Ambongo Besungu}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=Paul-Joseph Phạm Ðình Tụng}}
{{s-ttl|title=Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Regina Pacis a Ostia Lido|years=20 November 2010 – 11 July 2021}}
{{s-aft|after=William Goh Seng Chye}}
{{s-end}}
{{Cardinals of the Catholic Church|state=collapsed}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Christianity |portal3= Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasinya, Laurent Monsengwo}}
Category:Democratic Republic of the Congo cardinals
Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa
Category:21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa
Category:Cardinals created by Pope Benedict XVI
Category:Pontifical Urban University alumni
Category:Members of the Pontifical Council for Culture
Category:Members of the Congregation for Catholic Education
Category:Members of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications
Category:Members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Category:Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni
Category:21st-century cardinals
Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Kinshasa
Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Inongo