- An accumulation that is not a coincidence
- What the theological significance of the accumulation of burdens
- Service, not function, as the key to understanding
- The faithful steward placed in charge of the house
- The Seven's choice: to govern by multiplying hands
- Catholic Africa at a time of Roman responsibilities
- A Church that is growing where the West is faltering
- A man who lends a voice, not just a function
- Communication and evangelization: two facets of the same mission
- Lectio divina
- ✝ Biblical references
On June 30, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu's name appeared, almost incidentally, on the long list of members appointed to the Dicastery for Evangelization. There was no formal announcement, no particular emphasis—simply a name among others, lost in the administrative nomenclature. It took the Congolese press to revisit the matter to reveal what Rome had not seen fit to highlight: this appointment was not the first of the year for the Archbishop of Kinshasa. Three months earlier, on April 9, the same man had already been appointed to the Dicastery for Communication. Within the space of three months, the same African prelate was thus entrusted with two distinct Roman responsibilities—a very rare occurrence in the recent history of the Curia, and one that deserves to be interpreted not as a mere accumulation of titles, but as a theological sign.
For behind this dual trust lies a question that far transcends the biography of one man: that of how the Church understands and distributes authority when it genuinely seeks to become universal. Cardinal Ambongo's accumulation of offices is not a quirk of the Roman calendar; it is the visible symptom of a rebalancing that the Catholic Church is undertaking, slowly but surely, in favor of a continent that has become numerically and spiritually central.
An accumulation that is not a coincidence
Two dicasteries, one man, three months
The Dicastery for Communication and the Dicastery for Evangelization have, at first glance, almost nothing in common. The former coordinates the Holy See's media outlets—Vatican Radio, Vatican News, L'Osservatore Romano, and the Church's digital platforms. The latter, established by Pope Francis's reform of the Curia in the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, directs the Church's missionary work throughout the world. The fact that the same person heads both bodies reveals a specific rationale: that of a prelate perceived in Rome not as a specialist in a particular field, but as a voice capable of conveying, on two fronts simultaneously, the Church's message to the world and the Church's mission within itself.
The Archdiocese of Kinshasa had, as early as April, described the initial appointment as "a striking sign of the Pope's confidence in our archbishop, renowned for his wisdom, foresight, and unwavering commitment to truth." This language, far from being a mere diplomatic flourish, implicitly paints the portrait of a man whose moral authority has ultimately transcended the borders of his diocese, then his country, and finally his continent.
The profile of a man already central
It is important to understand the institutional weight Cardinal Ambongo already carried even before this dual appointment. Archbishop of Kinshasa since 2018, created a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2019, he has served on the Council of Cardinals—the select body tasked with advising the Pope on the governance of the universal Church—since October 2020. He is now one of its longest-serving members, having navigated the transition between the pontificates of Francis and Leo XIV without losing his place in this inner circle. Furthermore, since February 2023, he has presided over the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, a body that unites all the bishops of the continent.
Therefore, Rome has not chosen an unknown figure to entrust with two additional dicasteries, but rather a man whose governance trajectory had already been oriented, for several years, towards the highest responsibilities of the universal Church. The novelty lies not in Ambongo's entry into Roman power circles—that is nothing new—but in the sudden intensification, within a single quarter, of this central role.
What the theological significance of the accumulation of burdens
Service, not function, as the key to understanding
It would be tempting to interpret this dual appointment through a purely political lens—who is moving up, who is moving down, what regional balance is Rome trying to maintain? This interpretation isn't wrong, but it remains insufficient if we want to understand what the Church itself says about the episcopal office and its Roman extension. The Apostle Peter, writing to the scattered communities of Asia Minor, formulates a principle that directly illuminates this situation: «Each of you should serve one another as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms» (1 Peter 4:10-11). This text, less frequently cited than other Petrine passages, establishes a striking equivalence between the diversity of gifts and the plurality of services: receiving multiple offices is not a privilege to be accumulated, but rather a multiplication of opportunities to serve.
From this perspective, the holding of two dicasteries by the same man should not be interpreted as a concentration of personal power, but rather as a broadening of the scope of his responsibilities. By entrusting Ambongo with both the Church's media voice and the leadership of its evangelizing mission, the Roman Curia is not granting him two separate powers; it is recognizing in him a unique aptitude for faithful stewardship, deployed across two complementary spheres.
The faithful steward placed in charge of the house
This image of stewardship finds an even more direct echo in a parable less commented upon than other Lucan parables. Responding to Peter's question about the meaning of vigilance, Jesus describes "the faithful and wise steward, whom the master will put in charge of his household, to give them their portion of grain at the proper time" (Lk 12:42). And he adds a formidable promise: "Blessed is that servant if, when he comes, the master finds him doing so. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions" (Lk 12:43-44). The logic of this parable is precisely that which seems to govern the Congolese cardinal's Roman trajectory: faithfulness demonstrated in a position of responsibility calls not for rest, but for an expansion of that responsibility.
This mechanism is neither automatic nor mechanical within the Church; it presupposes careful discernment on the part of the one who entrusts the responsibilities. That Rome, within the space of three months, deemed it appropriate to expand the mission of the same African archbishop twice suggests that this discernment has found in him a consistency sufficiently proven to justify a double trust. It should also be noted that Cardinal Ambongo does not reside in Rome and only travels there when summoned—a sign that this expanded stewardship is not based on a permanent physical presence, but on genuine availability and an already established reputation.
The Seven's choice: to govern by multiplying hands
The Acts of the Apostles contains a foundational episode for any reflection on the distribution of responsibilities in the early Church. Faced with the growing number of disciples and the impossibility for the Twelve to handle all the tasks alone, the community chose seven men "of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom," on whom the apostles laid hands after praying (Acts 6:1-6). This text is first and foremost a lesson on the necessity, as a work grows, of multiplying those who bear the burden rather than exhausting a small number of them.
But it also teaches, implicitly, that the recognition of a new responsibility is never based on the ambition of the one who receives it, but on the reputation he has built in service to others. Cardinal Ambongo did not seek his two dicasteries; he received them because his career—defending the rule of law in the Democratic Republic of Congo, constant calls for a cessation of hostilities in the face of the M23 crisis in the east of the country, demanding presidency of the Continental Symposium—has built, over time, the same «good reputation» that the Apostles sought for their Seven.
Catholic Africa at a time of Roman responsibilities
A Church that is growing where the West is faltering
The context surrounding this dual appointment is not neutral. For several decades, Catholic Africa has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the world, at a time when several Western churches are facing a worrying decline in numbers and vocations. This shift in the demographic center of gravity of global Catholicism toward the African continent has not been without consequences for the composition of the Roman Curia: the recent appointment, alongside Cardinal Ambongo, of two other cardinals and a bishop exercising their ministry in Africa within the Dicastery for Communication is a direct testament to this.
This movement goes beyond Ambongo alone. It reflects a growing institutional awareness: a Church that aspires to universality cannot continue to entrust the governance of its central bodies solely to European or North American prelates, lest its very structure contradict the message of universality it claims to convey. The African episcopal body, long perceived as peripheral in major Roman decisions, is now establishing itself as an essential player in the governance of the Catholic Church.
A man who lends a voice, not just a function
What distinguishes Cardinal Ambongo from many other prelates promoted in Rome is that he has never wavered in his convictions, even when they displeased the highest levels of the Church. In 2024, he signed, along with all the African bishops, a declaration refusing to bless same-sex couples, directly contradicting the pastoral approach advocated by Pope Francis himself. This act of theological resistance, far from marginalizing him, seems instead to have confirmed his status as the legitimate representative of an African sensibility that cannot be reduced to Roman expectations alone.
This ability to maintain both loyalty to Rome and fidelity to the pastoral realities of his continent partly explains the trust placed in him today by two successive pontificates—that of Francis, who made him a cardinal and integrated him into the Council of Cardinals, and then that of Leo XIV, who continued and amplified this integration by appointing him to two dicasteries within three months. Some Roman observers did not hesitate, as early as 2024, to mention his name among the possible papabili of a future conclave—a further sign that this trajectory of governance now extends beyond mere one-off appointments.
Communication and evangelization: two facets of the same mission
It is significant that the two dicasteries entrusted to Ambongo each, in their own way, touch upon the heart of the contemporary Church's mission: to proclaim the faith and to transmit it. The Dicastery for Communication shapes how the Church presents itself to the world through its official bodies; the Dicastery for Evangelization organizes its actual missionary outreach. Entrusting these two complementary bodies to the same man acknowledges in him a coherence between word and deed, between the Church's public pronouncements and their concrete implementation on the ground.
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Access the folder →This consistency is not an abstract concept for the Congolese cardinal. His diocese of Kinshasa, confronted with chronic insecurity in the east of the country and considerable social tensions, has accustomed him to speaking the truth rather than speaking cautiously—a quality that the archdiocese itself emphasized as early as April, highlighting his «constant concern for truth.» This same demand for truth, now applied on the universal scale of ecclesiastical communication, could well constitute the most original contribution of his presence in this dicastery.
Lectio divina
«Blessed is that servant if, when he comes, the master finds him doing so! Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.» Luke 12:43-44
You who receive, sometimes unsolicited, an additional burden to bear—do you recognize in this expansion a calling rather than a burden? What do you do, concretely, with the gift that God has already placed within you and that no one seems to have yet seen? Do you distrust the confidence placed in you, or do you welcome it as an invitation to grow in service? Where, in your ordinary life, could a small, discreet act of faithfulness today prepare you for a greater responsibility tomorrow?
Lord, you entrust the grain to those who know how to distribute it without keeping it for themselves. Teach me faithfulness in small tasks, those that no one notices. Give me open hands rather than hands that hold back. May I never seek responsibility, but may I not refuse it either when it comes from you. Make me a steward without fear, because I trust in you alone.
An open granary, where wheat is counted not to be kept, but to be poured into outstretched hands.
✝ Biblical references
3 passages · 3 books
Cast all your anxieties on him, for you are precious in his eyes. (1 Peter 5:7)
Encouragement to persecuted Christians: hope, baptism and conduct in society.
→ Explore Codex 1 Stone- The lawyer who became a cardinal: when the Church entrusts its accounts to a man who first learned to defend the poor
- The body that resists fire: what Agathe's return to Catania nine hundred years ago reveals
- American Catholic schools face reckoning: the divide revealed by Baltimore
- Vermont: When civil justice opens parish treasures to abuse victims
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you… you will be my witnesses. (Acts 1:8)
The birth and expansion of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome under the action of the Spirit.
→ Explore the Codex Acts of the Apostles- American Catholic schools face reckoning: the divide revealed by Baltimore
- By attraction and not by conquest: missionary weakness as ecclesial strength
- Stolen voices, falsified faces: Latin America faces the evangelical challenge of authentic communication
- When Latin America calls on Rome: Magnifica Humanitas or the promise of social reconciliation
The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. (Luke 19:10)
The Gospel of Mercy: Jesus close to the poor, women and sinners.
→ Explore the Codex Luc- The righteous will live by their faithfulness (Ha 1:12 – 2:4)
- They could not resist the wisdom and the Spirit that enabled him to speak (Acts 6:8-15)
- You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; but why do you not know how to interpret this present time? (Luke 12:54-59)
- Do you think I came to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Luke 12:49-53)
- From whom much has been given, much will be required (Lk 12:39-48)
- The lawyer who became a cardinal: when the Church entrusts its accounts to a man who first learned to defend the poor
- Confidite: The World Youth Day anthem in Seoul sings of the blood of Korean martyrs
- The College of Cardinals in transition: the return to moderation under Leo XIV
- At the heart of the missionary fire: when the Church chooses to stay where everything pushes it to leave
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