'Enough! Stop getting rich at the cost of the poor, stop getting rich from resources and money stained with blood!,' Pope Francis said
In a poignant encounter at the Vatican's embassy in the capital Kinshasa, victim after victim told their story to the pontiff before laying down objects symbolising their suffering, such as a machete or a dagger, before a Christian cross.
She said they took her to a forest camp where she was raped every day for three months by up to ten men. Carrying her daughters, one on her front and one on her back, she laid down a small floor mat, a symbol of her past subjugation.Francis, who was on the first full day of his visit to Congo and had earlier celebrated mass in front of a million people, responded to these stories with an emotional speech calling for an end to violence and resignation.
Armed conflict has killed millions of people over the past decades, left 5.7 million people internally displaced and 26 million facing severe hunger in the coming months, according to the United Nations. "What a scandal and what hypocrisy, as people are being raped and killed, while the commerce that causes this violence and death continues to flourish!" he said.
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