Dieudonné Nzapalainga

Cardinal Nzapalainga has said little in public about sexual ethics. Speaking at the Synod in October 2024, he argued that Fiducia supplicans had not been sufficiently discussed beforehand with local Churches and might not apply as written in some regions, calling this a problem of method rather than of doctrine. He stresses the unity of the Church around the Pope and rejects local Churches 'going it alone'.

No public statement by Cardinal Nzapalainga on the traditional Latin Mass, Traditionis custodes or liturgical style has been found. A Spiritan missionary who served in the Paris suburbs and Marseille before leading the Archdiocese of Bangui, he is known chiefly for his pastoral and peace work rather than for liturgical positions.

Cardinal Nzapalainga is a prominent public voice for peace and reconciliation in the Central African Republic, repeatedly telling armed groups that the country 'will not be built with weapons'. After the December 2025 elections he urged the authorities to engage in self-criticism, not to use the state for personal enrichment and to redistribute mining wealth. He has said that turning away the poor or migrants calls one's Christianity into question.

Pope Francis stayed with Cardinal Nzapalainga in Bangui in 2015, opening the first Holy Door of the Jubilee of Mercy there, and created him a cardinal in 2016. He has described the Synod on Synodality as 'a new Pentecost for the Church', was elected to the Synod Council in 2024, and after Francis's death praised him as a man who 'loved the Central African Republic and the Church in Africa deeply'.

Interreligious peacebuilding is the hallmark of Cardinal Nzapalainga's ministry. In 2013 he co-founded the Interfaith Peace Platform of the Central African Republic with Imam Oumar Kobine Layama and an evangelical pastor, and the cardinal and the imam jointly received the Aachen Peace Prize in 2015. He called the late imam 'my great brother' and insists that 'religion does not divide us, religion connects us', denying any Christian legitimacy to the anti-Balaka militias.

Cardinal Nzapalainga gives frequent interviews to international media and speaks in a direct, personal and image-rich style, often drawing on African practices such as the 'palaver tree'. Described as charismatic yet modest and as one of the most listened-to voices in his region, he was named by Time among the world's 100 most influential people in 2014 together with his interfaith partners.