Without opposing the beatification cause of King Baudouin of Belgium, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, declared at a press conference on October 22, 2024, that there is a “dark spot” on his dossier. He explained that he was principally referring to the question of the possible involvement of the Belgian government in the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. “We don't know the twists and turns of his life,” he acknowledged, also hailing King Baudouin as being “courageous in the context of Belgium.”
On September 29, 2024, during the concluding Mass of his trip to Belgium, Pope Francis announced that upon his return to Rome, he would open a process to consider the beatification of King Baudouin, who ruled Belgium from 1951 to 1993. The Pontiff held him up as an example for his refusal to endorse the legalization of abortion. In fact, the Pope's statement sparked a heated debate and generated criticism from the Belgian government.
His attitude towards past colonization
However, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo was asked about another controversial aspect of this cause at a press conference held in Rome as part of the Synod on Synodality: the King's role in the decolonization of his country, the Congo.
The cardinal recalled that this king, on June 30, 1960, presided over the independence ceremony in Kinshasa, then known as “Léopoldville,” delivering a speech in which he praised the colonizing work of the previous Belgian kings.
Was the Belgian government involved in an assassination?
“Something happened, we know, with the death of Prime Minister Lumumba,” he then explained, referring to the assassination of his country's first and short-lived Prime Minister in 1961.
Arrested in 1960 shortly after Colonel Joseph Mobutu's coup d'état, he was executed under conditions that have never been clarified, with some historians questioning the role of Belgium, which sought to protect its nationals at the time.
“We're going to dig into the past to see what's there,” said the cardinal.
He expressed his confidence in the ability of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to properly study the cause for canonization; the process for beatification involves a thorough historical examination in its first phase.
“We don't know all the twists and turns of his life,” he said, but felt that the question of Patrice Lumumba's death was a “dark spot” in the case.
However, “if the case evolves in the direction that some want to present it for canonization, we are open to it,” he insisted.
The cardinal was also keen to point out that this cause was taken up by the Church in Belgium at the Pope's request. He also acknowledged that the King of the Belgians had been “courageous in the context of Belgium.”
