Frédéric Cardinal Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi

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Frédéric Cardinal Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi, C.I.C.M. (born December 3, 1930) is the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ordained as a priest on 13 July 1958, he became Archbishop of Mbandaka-Bikoro on 11 November 1977. He was proclaimed a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1991, succeeding the first Zairean Cardinal, Joseph-Albert Cardinal Malula. Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. In a statement to the Congolese nation and to the international community released on 11 November 2006 from Paris, the Cardinal seemed to doubt the independence of the country's Independent Electoral Commission (headed by the Catholic priest Apollinaire Malumalu) and the outcome of the runoff of the first direct presidential election in the more than 40-year history of the country pitting the incumbent Joseph Kabila against his challenger vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba. This statement created tension in the capital city, the stronghold of the challenger, whose family is close to the Cardinal who also hails from the same Equateur Province, a fact which, according to the incumbent's supporters, might explain the Cardinal's alleged partiality. The results of the second round of the presidential election, published on 15 November 2006, gave the incumbent a winner with 58.05% and his opponent 41.95%.