Bishop from Congolese partner diocese as guest
religion
On the day of the partner dioceses, the bishop of the Bokungu-Ikela diocese from Congo visited Archbishop Franz Lackner in the city of Salzburg on Tuesday. Gifts such as honey and relics were exchanged and ongoing projects were discussed.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus missionary Toussaint Iluku Bolumbu has been bishop of the partner diocese since 2019, which is about half the size of Austria. He was already a guest in Salzburg in 2020 for the day of the partner dioceses. Various topics were discussed during the conversation between the two bishops, including the local implementation of the synodal process and the expected youth encounter of the partner dioceses.
Gifts exchanged, tapestries for honey
Gifts were also exchanged as a sign of solidarity: the Congolese bishop comes up with wall hangings and is now returning to Bokungu-Ikela with relics from the Salzburg diocesan saints Rupert and Virgil as well as honey from the garden of the bishop’s house.
Partnerships with three dioceses
For more than 50 years, the Archdiocese of Salzburg has maintained partnerships with three dioceses on three continents. In addition to Bokungu-Ikela, these are Daegu (South Korea) and San Ignacio de Velasco (Bolivia). The initial impetus for this came at the 1968 diocesan synod, in which the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council were to be implemented at the local church level. Since then there have been regular meetings and exchange projects between the partner dioceses, especially in the areas of youth and cultural work.