Catholics in DR Congo, where the Church has long played a dominant role, are hoping Pope Francis will urge clean and fair polls when he visits next week.
Campaigning is already gearing up for a presidential vote in December, a period that is often fraught with violent protests and accusations of fraud after decades of strongman rule.
The Church has often acted as a counterweight to government in the mineral-rich but poor Central African nation, where an estimated 40 percent of its 100 million people are Catholic.
Since DR Congo’s independence from Belgium in 1960, Catholicism has maintained a “moral ascendancy”, said political scientist Christian Moleka.
“It remains a kind of recourse for the major issues of national interest,” he told AFP.
In more recent years the Church has fielded election monitors and used its influence to press elected officials to respect constitutional term limits.
The presidential vote, when Felix Tshisekedi will stand for a second term after his disputed election in 2018, is likely to loom large over Francis’ four-day visit.
Bishop Donatien Nshole, secretary general of the Catholic Church’s National Episcopal Conference of Congo, recently told news media that having Francis weigh in publicly on the need for credible elections would be welcome.
“The pope will surely say a word to encourage the political actors to organise the elections properly,” said Adolphine Mulanga, a 21-year-old student in Kinshasa
