Lenten campaign 2026
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A mine collapse after a landslide in the Democratic Republic of Congo claimed more than 200 lives, including children.
"May the Lord support these people who are suffering so much!" Pope Leo XIV prayed after leading the midday Angelus on Sunday, February 1. He assured all those affected -- including some 20 injured survivors -- of his prayers.
The DRC is a majority-Catholic country, with some 55% of the population belonging to the Church. The miners, many of them women and children, were scratching out a subsistence living, often digging by hand to extract a mineral vital to the production of electronic devices.
Government officials in the DRC blamed rebels for the collapse, which occurred during heavy rainfall. The mine, in Rubaya, is located very near the city of Goma in the North Kivu territory controlled since 2024 by M23 rebels. A former mining supervisor told the BBC that rebels have allowed the mine to deteriorate. Congolese authorities have banned mining in the area because of the loose soil and dangerous conditions, but rebels continue to operate the mines illegally.
Poverty and profit
Like many economically challenged African countries, the DRC possesses mineral wealth coveted by industrialized nations. The Rubaya mine is located in a region that contains 15% of the world's supply of coltan, a metallic ore that contains tantalum. Because of tantalum's qualities of electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion, the ore is in high demand for use in smartphones, computers, and automotive parts.
Coltan is considered a conflict resource, because large profits from its mining fund rebel armies and civil wars in the DRC, Rwanda, and other Central African nations. At the same time, the miners themselves are locked in a cycle of poverty. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second poorest nation in the world, with almost 75% of the population living on less than $2.15 a day. Millions of people have been displaced by conflict.
Economic desperation drives Congolese men, women, and children to work in the mines despite the risks. As the BBC reported:
A source whose cousin died in the landslide expressed shock, saying it was "a big loss" for the family and community.
"I didn't believe he could pass away in such circumstances," the source, who did not wish to be named, told the BBC, describing his cousin as a "courageous" and "ambitious" man whose main goal was to provide for his wife and two children.
"I didn't believe [he was dead] because investigations were still ongoing. His body wasn't found after the accident, so I did have hope that he could be found alive. Unfortunately, some hours later, his body was discovered."
Blessed Marie-Clementine Anuarite Nengapeta, patroness of the Democratic Republic of Congo, pray for your people!
Exploited and abandoned
He said:
Pope Francis made five apostolic journeys to Africa, visiting ten countries between 2015 and 2023. As far as I am concerned, the great memory that the African continent could retain of him is certainly his strong message from the Democratic Republic of Congo, addressed to the powerful of this world, in the face of all the situations of misery in which the continent finds itself today:
“Take your hands off the Democratic Republic of Congo, take your hands off Africa! Stop suffocating Africa”.
Today, Africa in general, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular, are gold mines that the powers of this world can exploit and then abandon.
As well, the cardinal said:
Africa is a source of strategic minerals for their industries, which allow them to dominate the world. The paradox is that these powers sometimes use some Africans to access resources for their own exclusive interest, not for the interest of the population as a whole. As long as the system continues to function in this way, we will always have war.
