Pope Francis on Tuesday is predicted to land within the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa’s largest predominantly Catholic nation, for a landmark three-day go to.

Listed here are 5 issues to learn about this huge nation:

Mineral wealth, dire poverty

The Democratic Republic of Congo is awash with minerals and treasured stones, from gold, diamonds and coltan to tin, copper and cobalt.

Harboring the Congo River — the second-largest in Africa after the Nile — the Democratic Republic of Congo additionally has enormous hydroelectric potential, in addition to 80 million hectares (197 million acres) of arable land.

However many years of struggle and power mismanagement implies that little of the nation’s huge wealth trickles all the way down to the inhabitants of some 100 million folks.

About two-thirds of the Congolese inhabitants survive on beneath $2.15 a day, in line with the World Financial institution.

Ethnic mosaic

Occupying an unlimited space the dimensions of continental western Europe, the Democratic Republic of Congo is about 80 occasions bigger than its former colonial energy, Belgium.

It’s the second-largest state in Africa after Algeria.

Some 250 completely different ethnic teams dwell within the Democratic Republic of Congo, talking a whole lot of various languages.

French is the nation’s official language, and native tongues Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba and Swahili are additionally formally acknowledged.

Regardless of its measurement and variety — the previous province of Katanga tried to secede within the Nineteen Sixties — there’s a fierce sense of nationwide unity.

Troubled east

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been ravaged by brutal conflicts in latest many years. The primary Congo struggle, between 1996-1997, resulted within the overthrow of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

The second Congo struggle, between 1998-2003, sucked in 9 completely different international locations, concerned about 30 armed teams and triggered hundreds of thousands of deaths in line with some estimates. It additionally bankrupted the nation.

A lot of the Democratic Republic of Congo is now at peace, however its mineral-rich japanese provinces stay affected by dozens of armed teams and civilian massacres are widespread.

Secular, non secular

Secularism has been enshrined within the Congolese Structure since 1974, which additionally acknowledges freedom of worship.

In keeping with estimates, about 40 % of the nation is Catholic, 35 % Protestants of assorted denominations, 9 % Muslims and 10 % Kimbanguists — a Christian motion born within the Belgian Congo.

Official Vatican statistics put the proportion of Catholics within the DRC at 49 % of the inhabitants.

Atheists are exceedingly uncommon in Congolese society, which stays deeply non secular and influenced by the church. In the course of the colonial interval, training was entrusted to Catholic missionaries.

Rumba, survival

Congolese persons are famend for his or her humorousness and resourcefulness within the face of attempting situations.

Many jokingly confer with “Article 15” of the structure, which purports to instruct residents to kind issues out themselves.

Music additionally performs an outsize function within the nation’s tradition. UNESCO listed Congolese rumba as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in December 2021.

Congo can also be famed for its so-called sapeurs — dandies recognized for his or her ultra-elegant clothes and sense of fashion.