"At that time Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. "(Mt 11: 25-26)
Our prayer tonight is even more precious It is with great joy that I announce that today Pope Francis has recognised the martyrdom of Floribert Bwana Chui, born in 1981 and killed on 8 July 2007 in Goma, Congo, in hatred of the faith, as the decree states. In hatred of the faith. At the age of 26, the mafia hands that had tried to corrupt him punished him with death for his resistance. A resistance that was incomprehensible to them.
In a warlike region, with many ethno-political movements fighting one another, traversed by many economic interests, almost criminal, Floribert was inhabited since young age by a great desire to live, and also to do good for others. His encounter with Sant'Egidio brought him to the poor, to the street children, who are seen by people as marginal, criminal and violent gangs who steal and intimidate. It carried him to the School of Peace, which he considered as the laboratory of the new Congolese.
He had understood that the poor are not just another race, lost forever. A friend recounts: He often spoke about the street children, he said that we are not that different, we are the same, we and they. They had not been the one to choose their life they were forced to live for certain circumstances.
I would like to say right away that his love for the young people is one of the origins of his martyrdom. He began to consider them his family while he was always more interested in the many dimensions of the Community. He did love peace and he always asked people to tell him about the story of peace in Mozambique, and dreamt of it in Kivu.
Since he was young, a religious person, Floribert lived his conversion in the encounter with the Community. The poor and the Word of God. His Bible, kept at St Bartholomew's, now is in front of us as a precious relic. He did love the Bible and said, with his simplicity, to his friends: If you have any problem, whatever it may be, do not be weary, take the Gospel and read it. It will console you, it will give you joy. For this is how he knew how to break the Word of God in this way
He was a young man, a happy man, but also strong. He radiated sympathy around him, he often became a leader for young people. He was sent to Kinshasa from Goma for professional training. At the time, everyone advised him to stay in Kinshasa, for the opportunities the capital offered, but there was also a legend in his family. His father had lost his father assassinated for political issues, he was Floribert's grandfather. So he always advised Floribert very strongly not to come back to Goma. But he, finished the course, did not want to leave his Goma.
What did he dream of? He dreamed of change starting from the street children.
So he came back to his life of everyday and started work as a damage commissioner for goods from Rwanda. He continued his service with enthusiasm and creativity.
A precious witness is Jonathan, a street boy who had arrived in Goma from the other side of the lake, because he had boarded the boat and was no longer able to get off and had stayed in Goma on the road. On his way back from Kinshasa, Floribert brought him home. Jonathan remembers: ‘the thing I liked most about Floribert was that talking to him made me feel better. Sure, he paid for my school, I was happy, but that was not the point. Money was not the most important thing. On the contrary, when he passed by, none of us street kids had to ask him for money, we had decided that together, because you don't ask your friends for money. The most important thing,' Jonatha continues, 'was the fact that he cared about me, his affection, the fact that he gave me advice, that he took an interest in this, in the other, in me in general'. Indeed, Floribert was a man of the friendly word with everyone. That word was his weapon.
He dared to resist the dictatorship of materialism and corruption, which pervades Goma in all fibres and in all institutions, that has become a habit. A little man, we see him in the pictures, looking a bit like an intellectual or a civil servant, who measured himself against the lords of money, who moved men, weapons and millions of dollars, with connections with politics and the army.
A rotten cargo had to be passed, once it was rotten rice, other times it was second-hand rice mixed with glass, other times it was rotten rice. Pressures arrive on him, the director. Is $1,000 enough for you? He says no, and they don't understand and offer 2,000. And he says no, and they offer 3,000. And he keeps saying no, it's not the no of a deal, it's a different no.
People normally say, to justify corruption in Kivu, but also in many other parts of the world: if I don't do it, someone else will do it in my place. And then some friends would tell him, do you believe you can change the world? Those who accompanied him saw he was receiving strong threats on his mobile phone, which he often switched off in anger. A friend heard him answer as angry as he had never been: ‘Nyiye amuta nikaza!’, which means in Swahili: You will not be able to force me!
But who is not forced by the criminal powers? Who can resist? How can a 26-year-old, who appeared a stubborn imbecile to the lords of money. But Floribert used to say in pain, in fear, it was his week of agony: But how can I allow the rotten goods to poison people! How can I allow rotten goods to poison my children, the school children, the street children! So he says, he confides: ‘Better to die than to accept that money’.
So, while he was getting out of a shop, where he had bought a tie, in his most beautiful picture he has a very beautiful tie, while getting out of a shop in those days, he is kidnapped and taken away. The deal is big, because whoever witnesses the kidnapping and recognises him will be eliminated a few days later.
Poor Floribert, his death is accompanied by torture, iron strokes all over the body, especially to his genitals, as a sign of contempt. His teeth are ripped out and finally they strangle him. It was necessary to terrorise, an example was needed. Nobody will have the courage, after this, to say no to the lordsof money: ‘Nyiye amuta nikaza! You will not be able to force me!’
The pope recognised the martyrdom and Floribert Bwana Chui is now blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The weak 26-year-old has won over the overpower of the lords of death. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Above all, we feel it is fulfilled in Floribert: I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, the prayer of Jesus, for you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to the little ones.
Dear friends,
all of us united here, older than him, with perhaps more complex stories, having always lived in safer countries, are today called to turn our eye to the heart of Africa, to Goma, to this little one. A martyr and blessed, it means great in the kingdom of heaven. Young, never left his country, this guy precedes us into the kingdom and is a teacher to us all. Above all, in this world of hidden powers, and they are many, corrupt, dominated by incomprehensible wars, Floribert shows a way of change, the one that nobody can avoid, starting with me.
Friends,
not everything is impossible, not everything is lost, there is still hope. Floribert will possess the land, those who hunger and thirst for justice will be satisfied. In this time, with little hope for peace and liberation from evil and its many agents, our Floribert is a shining lamp in a dark place and gives us hope that the morning star may rise in our hearts.
So in tonight prayer we will thank the Lord for this gift to the Community, to the Church, to the Congo and to the whole world. We will thank the Lord for this undeserved gift of a young and little brother, who has become our teacher.
(translated from speech by editorial team)
