30 Years of EdC

Democratic Republic of Congo: On October 21, EoC entrepreneur Anastase Ngoy Kazembe, known as “Papa Anastase,” passed away in Lubumbashi. Here is his story.

by Antonella Ferrucci

A visionary entrepreneur and a man of deep faith, Anastase embodied the values of the Economy of Communion with extraordinary consistency, becoming a point of reference for the entire African community of the Focolare Movement. The moving response to his death demonstrates this, and his story deserves to be told.

Born in 1955, Anastase learned about the Economy of Communion thanks to his five children, who were still young at the time and attended the Focolare. Struck by the depth of his children's responses after their meetings at the Focolare, he decided to learn more and in 2011 attended a meeting with the EoC representatives of the Republic of Congo, who were visiting Lubumbashi from Kinshasa. Anastase said of that meeting:

«I found great harmony and continuity between my Ignatian formation and the EoC, finding in Chiara Lubich also a great concreteness in putting into practice what spirituality made us intuit.»

Anastase was already a successful entrepreneur, having founded BRAS-SECURITY, now one of the largest security companies in the Congo, operating in 17 cities across the country, as well as in Zambia, Tanzania, and Angola, with over 4,200 employees. Thanks to the strong Ignatian spirituality that distinguished him, his company already had the prerequisites to be not only an economic activity but also a laboratory of fraternity: the charism of the EoC therefore fell on very fertile ground and ensured that work in his company became an instrument of dignity and redemption for thousands of people.

But let's proceed in order. After that first meeting in Lubumbashi, in September 2012, Anastase and his wife Ivette were invited to Italy, to Loppiano, for an international EoC meeting. Leo Andringa and his wife Anneke welcomed them into their home in the Castelli Romani during the first days of their stay in Italy. Anastase returned almost overwhelmed by those few days with Leo because of the wonderful welcome he received and fell completely in love with the EoC. A few days later, in Loppiano, he introduced himself as follows:

«I am the manager of a security company: Christian, Jesuit, layman, and married. As for my company, we started with seven employees. We were coming out of a great war and there were no jobs or companies, but banditry everywhere. I took the courage to set up a security company with the help of some foreign companies and a Belgian gentleman. I was poor and, as a member of the Jesuits, I said to myself, ‘I offer this to God’. Within a short time, we grew to 28, then 100, and today we have more than 2,000 employees. Now Bras Security is a large and well-known company. Our spirituality is entirely complementary to the spirituality of the EoC. EoC is a spirit! I come here to Loppiano to deepen my understanding and to see if I am capable of moving forward.»

It was only the beginning. The international congress in Nairobi in 2015, with the final promise signed by all those present, “One company is not enough,” marked another important milestone. Since then, Anastase has made the EoC the compass of his entrepreneurial activity, sharing profits, experiences, and dreams with the poor and with the community. When he came to Rome in 2017 for Pope Francis' meeting with EoC entrepreneurs, there was a decisive turning point. Anastase recounts in one of his last interviews, given to Sara Marie Alvarez:

«There were more than 2,000 people present, but at the end of the meeting, the Pope personally greeted a small group of 30 people, of which I was a part. On that occasion, I was able to talk to him for 3-4 minutes. He said to me: ‘Do some concrete projects in your country, inspired by the Economy of Communion. When I come to Congo, I will come to see you and you will have to show me what you have done’. On my return, I talked about it with my wife. We shared our desire with the Focolare community. We understood that, in everything we earn, there is a part that belongs to God and that must be shared with the poor. That is how the idea for the hospital was born. It was a concrete response.».

Those words of Pope Francis became a mission for Anastase. The Centre Hospitalier Chiara Lubich was born in Lubumbashi, a 50-bed healthcare facility with departments of surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, internal medicine, and neonatology. Opened in 2019, the hospital is now a healthcare hub in the Katanga region, with over 1,000 births assisted in the first five years and a very low mortality rate.

The hospital was built with bricks made from the earth of local termite mounds, under the direct supervision of Anastase's wife, Mama Yvette, who was involved in every stage of the project. “It is a monument to charity,” she says, recalling how the whole family, including their children, was involved in its construction. The history of the hospital is also marked by an episode that many consider a miracle. When a government commission arrived to demolish the structure, built on land that had been declared an airspace zone when the work was already well advanced, the intervention of the local community and a sudden “blindness” of the bulldozer operator stopped the demolition. “It is God who has helped you,” said a Land Registry official. In November 2024, Anastase came once again to Italy, to Loppiano, to formally donate the hospital to the Focolare Movement, and he himself was treated in that same hospital until the end.

Anastase's testimony left a deep mark even beyond the borders of the Congo. In Italy, where he traveled several times, he forged bonds of friendship and collaboration with communities and entrepreneurs, becoming a bridge of solidarity between Africa and Europe. The surgeon from Piacenza, Eugenio Ferri, who moved to Lubumbashi in 2020, was one of his closest collaborators in the hospital adventure.

“He was a saint by habit, not by seeking reward,” wrote the EoC entrepreneurs of Kinshasa about him. He did not seek recognition, but lived every gesture as an act of love towards God and his brothers and sisters. He made no distinctions of ethnicity or religion, and considered every person as part of his large family. His life was a parable of faith, service, and communion.

In the interview with Sara Marie, Anastase confided:

«I realized that an EoC entrepreneur cannot limit himself to being generous, but must share his experience with the whole world and also part of his business profits with the poor. It is not enough to give the poor financial help; we must help them to escape from poverty, not only economic poverty, but also moral, physical, and cultural poverty, enabling them to build a different future for themselves..»

More than 3,000 people attended his funeral, celebrated in Lubumbashi. The gratitude for the good they had received was evident on many faces. Today, his example continues to inspire entrepreneurs, healthcare workers, volunteers, and members of the Focolare Movement. In a country marked by poverty and conflict, his legacy is a beacon of hope: universal fraternity is not a utopia, but a possible path, traced by those who have known how to live love to the fullest.

Thank you for everything, Papa Anastase!

For further information:

11/11/2025 - Città Nuova, Papa Anastase's hospital in Congo by Angelo Bricca (in Italian)

01/08/2024 - Flest, Congo, travelling with Angelo (6) Universal fraternity, the only perspective by Angelo Bricca  (in Italian)

From Eugenio Ferri's YouTube channel, see the video Chiara Lubich Hospital in Lubumbashi