Zaire Use

In Brief

The Zaire Use is the Congolese way of celebrating the Roman Mass: an adaptation of the Roman Order of Mass for the dioceses of the Democratic Republic of Congo, approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship on 30 April 1988.¹ The decree approved a French Order of Mass with its Praenotanda, calendar and proper Masses, keeping "the substantial unity of the Roman rite" — and it never called the result a separate rite.¹ Its most recognizable marks are the invocation of the ancestors "upright in heart" with the saints at the opening, the litany of the saints, African song with drums and dancing, and the blessing of the lectors before they go to the ambo.^2,3 Francis has celebrated it himself and called it "the first and only inculturated rite of the Latin Church approved after Vatican II" — while L'Osservatore Romano cautions that "in reality it is not a rite of its own at all", but an adaptation of the Roman rite.^4,5

Where to Experience It

By its terms, the Zaire Use belongs to the dioceses of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the French Missel Romain pour les diocèses du Zaïre was approved in 1988.¹ It is celebrated chiefly in the national languages — Lingala, Kikongo, Swahili and Tshiluba — because at their evangelization the Congolese prayed and sang in Latin and French, understood nothing, and "therefore did not pray well".^2,5 In parish life its place is the principal Sunday Mass: at Kinshasa the use has its simple and solemn forms, and is celebrated once a week, at the first Mass on Sunday morning.⁸ Beyond Congo, the Congolese Catholic chaplaincy in Rome keeps it alive — Francis's 2019 Mass there gave it its most visible celebration.⁷

Your First Visit

In Kinshasa, look for the principal Sunday Mass: the use is normally celebrated once a week, at the first Mass on Sunday morning.⁸ In Rome, the Congolese Catholic chaplaincy keeps it alive; Francis celebrated it in St Peter's on 1 December 2019.⁷ Expect song with drums, the ministers dancing around the altar at the Gloria, the assembly moving and singing, and the Mass ending in prayer to Mary.^2,3

The Shape of the Liturgy

Everything in the Zaire Use is the Roman Mass rearranged around Congolese communal expression. The assembly invokes its ancestors "upright in heart" with the saints and sings the litany of the saints from the very start, and the ministers dance around the altar during the Gloria while drums and traditional instruments carry the chant.^2,3 The readers are blessed and sent by the celebrant before they go to the ambo, and the assembly remains seated for the proclamation of the Gospel.^3,8 The most structural change follows the homily: the penitential rite and the sign of peace come there, before the universal prayer and the offertory — the community reconciles with God and with one another before it offers.³ The Mass closes in prayer to the Virgin Mary.² Two forms exist, simple and solemn; and the decree that approved it insisted throughout on "the substantial unity of the Roman rite".^1,8

The order of Mass in the Zaire Use

1. Invocation of the ancestors and litany of the saints
   At the opening, the assembly invokes its ancestors "upright in heart", together with the saints, establishing the communion between the earthly Church and the heavenly community; the litany of the saints occupies an important place from the very beginning of the celebration.^2,3
2. The Gloria with dance
   The ministers dance around the altar during the Gloria; much space is given to chant, often accompanied by drums and other traditional instruments, with the assembly's active participation in rhythmic movement.^3,8
3. The Word of God
   The readers are blessed and sent by the celebrant before going to the ambo; the assembly remains seated during the proclamation of the Gospel.^3,8
4. The penitential rite and the peace
   After the homily, before the universal prayer and the offertory: the act of penitence and the sign of peace.³
5. The Eucharist
   The Eucharistic celebration keeps the substantial structure of the Roman Mass: the 1988 decree approved the bishops' 'new structure of the rites' only 'keeping the substantial unity of the Roman rite'. The particular Eucharistic prayers of the approved book were not identified in the sources read.¹
6. Prayer to Mary at the end
   The celebration closes with prayer to the Virgin Mary.²

What makes it distinctive

• The invocation of the ancestors "upright in heart", together with the saints, at the opening of the Mass.^2,3
• The penitential rite and the sign of peace after the homily, before the offertory.³
• Dance, drums and traditional instruments, with the ministers dancing around the altar during the Gloria.^3,8
• The lectors blessed and sent by the celebrant before they go to the ambo.³
• The assembly seated during the proclamation of the Gospel.⁸
• Two forms, simple and solemn; the use is celebrated once a week, at the principal Sunday Mass.⁸
• Women serving at the altar and singing in the procession.²

History

The idea came from the Congolese bishops themselves, who from the end of 1969 proposed opening the liturgy to the cultural values of the Zairian people.³ Cardinal Malula of Kinshasa — who had posed the problem of the liturgy at Vatican II and was heard — had already begun translating the chants into Lingala, because the faithful prayed and sang in Latin and French and "did not feel comfortable".² The bishops' conference worked with the Holy See through the pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul II until, on 30 April 1988, the Congregation for Divine Worship "gladly approved and confirmed" the French Order of Mass with its Praenotanda, calendar and proper Masses for the dioceses of Zaire (Prot. 1520/85) — the book Evenou presented as the Missel Romain pour les diocèses du Zaïre.¹ The bishops' proposal was for a "new structure of the rites" — but "keeping the substantial unity of the Roman rite".¹

Its profile rose under Francis. On 1 December 2019 he celebrated it in St Peter's for the 25th anniversary of the Congolese Catholic chaplaincy in Rome.⁷ A year later, presenting the LEV volume on the rite, he called it "the first and only inculturated rite of the Latin Church approved after Vatican II" and asked the bishops to complete "this Rite" with the sacraments.⁴ During his 2023 visit to Kinshasa it became the showcase of African inculturation — and the occasion for the Roman press to insist, as the decree does, that it is an adaptation of the Roman rite, not a rite of its own.⁵

Milestones

1. 1969The Congolese bishops propose the opening of the liturgy to the cultural values of the Zairian people³
2. 1988-04-30The Congregation for Divine Worship approves (Prot. 1520/85) the French Order of Mass with its Praenotanda, calendar and proper Masses for the dioceses of Zaire, 'keeping the substantial unity of the Roman rite'¹
3. 2019-12-01Francis celebrates the use in St Peter's for the 25th anniversary of the Congolese Catholic chaplaincy in Rome⁷
4. 2020-12-01In a video message for the LEV volume on the rite, Francis calls it 'the first and only inculturated rite of the Latin Church approved after Vatican II', an example and model for other cultures⁴
5. 2023-01During Francis's visit to Kinshasa, L'Osservatore Romano explains the use as an adaptation of the Roman rite, 'not a rite of its own at all'⁵

Texts & Books

One book: the Missel Romain pour les diocèses du Zaïre, carrying the French Order of Mass, the Praenotanda, the calendar and the proper Masses the 1988 decree approved.¹ The decree approved only the Eucharistic celebration; in 2020 Francis asked the Congolese bishops to complete the work with the sacraments — a sign that the Zaire Use remains an unfinished project as well as an approved one.⁴

Family & Relations

The Zaire Use descends from the Roman Rite by decree: the Congregation approved the bishops' "new structure of the rites" only "keeping the substantial unity of the Roman rite".¹ That is why the Index files it among the uses — a sanctioned, identifiable form of a rite, not a rite beside it. The naming is honestly tangled, and the entry keeps the tangle visible: the book is the Missel Romain pour les diocèses du Zaïre; Vatican pages and Francis say "rito zairese" and "Rito Congolese"; the decree itself never calls it a rite.^1,4,7 It stands as the only inculturated Eucharistic celebration approved for the Latin Church after Vatican II.⁴

Compare with

• Novus Ordo: the Roman Mass of which the Zaire Use is an inculturated adaptation, approved with its substantial unity kept¹

The Rite Today

For the Church in Congo, the Zaire Use is the fruit of a long dialogue between the bishops' conference and the Holy See — "the work of a whole local Church in communion with the universal Church".² In practice it lives at the principal Sunday Mass of parishes, in its simple and solemn forms, in Lingala, Kikongo, Swahili and Tshiluba as well as French.^5,8 Women serve at the altar and sing in the procession; boys and girls serve with the priest — "a liturgy that takes into consideration the human being as a whole".² Francis has made it the showcase of liturgical inculturation for the whole Church: "an example and model for other cultures", even raised as a possible pattern for the Amazon.⁴ The last act of its history may be the sacraments: the Holy See has asked the Congolese bishops to give the use its baptisms, weddings and funerals too.⁴

As of 20 September 2026.

Disputed Questions

Go Deeper

The hard question the Zaire Use poses is what inculturation may touch. The invocation of the ancestors "upright in heart" at the opening — the dead who loved us "when they were on this earth" and continue to love us beyond it — sits beside the litany of the saints, and the Church has let it stand as an expression of the communion of saints.² The 1988 decree answers with Rome's boundary: a "new structure of the rites", but "keeping the substantial unity of the Roman rite".¹ That boundary is also why the Index calls it a use: the unity it must keep is named in the approval itself.¹

On Domus Dei

• The Roman RiteThe rite whose Mass the Zaire Use adapts
• Novus OrdoThe post-conciliar Roman Mass, the form the use adapts

Official resources

• Francis's homily at the 2019 Zairean-rite Mass in St Peter's
• Francis's 2020 video message on the Congolese rite

Recommended reading

• Congregatio pro Cultu Divino, “Decree Zairensium Dioecesium (Prot. 1520/85), 30 April 1988, with J. Evenou's presentation”, Notitiae 24 (1988), no. 264, 1988, pp. 454-457.The decree and Evenou's presentation: the controlling document, read in the official organ Read online
• Kambashi, Stanislas, SJ, “Le rite zaïrois de la messe exprime la catholicité et l'africanité (interview with Abbé Michel Libambu)”, Vatican News (FR), 2023.A Dicastery official on its origins, its two forms, and its place in parish life Read online
• Pérez, Silvina, “Il rito zairese per la festa della fede”, L'Osservatore Romano, 2023.A clear short account of the rite-versus-adaptation question and the languages Read online
• Prisciandaro, Vittoria, “The Mass from within”, L'Osservatore Romano (English edition), 2023.The ancestors, the women, and the Congolese context, through the editor of the LEV volume Read online

Sources

1. Magisterial / canonicalCongregatio pro Cultu Divino, “Decree Zairensium Dioecesium (Prot. 1520/85), 30 April 1988, with J. Evenou's presentation”, Notitiae 24 (1988), no. 264, 1988, pp. 454-457, p. 457; pp. 454-457. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · PDF read: 'libenter approbat seu confirmat'; 'servata tamen substantiali ritus Romani unitate' (p. 457); Evenou: the 'Missel Romain pour les diocèses du Zaïre' 'a été approuvé le 30 avril dernier par la Congrégation pour le Culte divin' (p. 454)
2. ReferencePrisciandaro, Vittoria, “The Mass from within”, L'Osservatore Romano (English edition), 2023. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read in full: the invocation at the beginning of the Mass of the ancestors 'upright in heart', together with the saints; women serve at the altar and sing in the procession; Sister Rita Mboshu Kongo, editor of the LEV volume, and Cardinal Malula's translating the chants into Lingala
3. ReferenceACI Prensa, El Papa Francisco celebrará en San Pedro una misa en rito zaireño, 2019. LinkVerified 2026-09-20 · read in full: approved 30 April 1988 as 'Misal Romano para la Diócesis de Zaire'; 'es una adaptación del rito romano ordinario'; ministers dance around the altar during the Gloria; lectors blessed and sent by the celebrant before going to the ambo; litany of the saints from the beginning; ancestors 'de corazón recto' invoked; penitential rite and sign of peace after the homily, before the universal prayer and the offertory
4. Primary textFrancis, Videomessaggio per la presentazione di un volume della Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1 dicembre 2020, 2020. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read on vatican.va: 'il primo e unico rito inculturato della Chiesa latina'
5. ReferencePérez, Silvina, “Il rito zairese per la festa della fede”, L'Osservatore Romano, 2023. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read: 'Il rito zairese, in realtà, non è un vero e proprio rito a sé. Si tratta di un adattamento del rito romano per le diocesi della Repubblica Democratica del Congo, approvato… il 30 aprile 1988'; the Gospel is usually in Lingala, 'una delle quattro lingue in cui viene celebrato il rito zairese, oltre al kikongo, allo swahili e al tshiluba'. Francis's preface quoted (the preface itself not seen)
6. Magisterial / canonicalCatholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997, §1203. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · §§460, 1105–1106, 1353, 1375, 1377 read on vatican.va; §1125 read on vatican.va; §1203 (ENG0015 __P3C) and §1367 (__P41) read on vatican.va 2026-09-15
7. Primary textFrancis, Celebrazione eucaristica in rito zairese: omelia, 1 dicembre 2019, 2019. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · vatican.va page read: its heading 'Celebrazione eucaristica in rito zairese'
8. ReferenceKambashi, Stanislas, SJ, “Le rite zaïrois de la messe exprime la catholicité et l'africanité (interview with Abbé Michel Libambu)”, Vatican News (FR), 2023. LinkVerified 2026-09-14 · read: 'un document qui devait refléter non seulement l'africanité, mais aussi la romanité. C'est pourquoi on l'appelle « Missel Romain pour les diocèses du Zaïre »'; 'Ce Rite est essentiellement dans le cadrage de la Messe Romaine'; the Mass has 'deux formes: forme simple et forme solennelle' and 'ce rite est seulement célébré une fois la semaine, à la messe principale des paroisses le dimanche à 6h30'. Libambu is an official of the Dicastery for Divine Worship