Belvy Delphane Diandaga was born into a family where his father is Catholic and his mother is Protestant, so he had the opportunity to choose between one or the other vision of the Christian faith.

Since I was a child, I had the opportunity to participate in the mass, even without having a real knowledge of it, but, nevertheless, for me it was a moment of happiness, because it was a moment of encounter and of mutual and communitarian sharing. It was precisely at the age of four that I began to manifest the desire to accompany my father to Sunday Mass and this, as I grew older, had a great influence on me. Already at this age I could perceive the signs of my inclination towards the Catholic faith since, being from a family with mixed religious traditions, with an evangelical (Protestant) mother, I had the possibility of embracing one or the other tradition. But it was towards the Catholic faith that I oriented myself at the age of seven, when I went to enroll in the courses of initiation to Christian life (catechesis) without telling my father, who soon, however, would notice and encourage me. 

During this period of initiation, I had taken the initiative to join the scouting movement with my cousin, and then the altar boys, even without feeling at this precise moment the desire to become a priest, because my dream was to become an officer in the army or even a magistrate, to defend the oppressed and fight injustice in my country.

It was at the end of my high school studies that I somehow realized that the Lord was calling me to his service. It was on the occasion of the priestly ordination of a priest of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity that this desire became clearer. I could not describe what happened that day, but I can say in general that this wonderful encounter with Christ transformed my whole life. As St. Augustine said, "no one can meet Christ and remain the same".

Belvy has it clear: the motto of his life, then, is a word of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:10): "by the grace of God I am what I am, and the grace he has given me was not unfruitful" (1 Cor 15:10).

After feeling God's call, I hastened to talk about it with my father one day when we were returning from my parish choir rehearsals because, two years earlier, I had gathered there with my father to sing and praise God through liturgical animation, especially at Mass, which was for me a strong moment of encounter with Christ: a moment of ecstasy, with my heart being filled with joy. Later, without a doubt, I would discover, through theological studies, that the Eucharist is the sacrament of sacraments, the center of all Catholic Christian spirituality because it is the sacrament where Christ is totally present. And more and more, I became aware of the sublimity and nobility of the priesthood. Because Jesus, calling me to his mystery, wanted to make me a minister of the Eucharist, and this is simply a grace. For this reason, moreover, my word of life taken from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:10) describes this same dimension of grace: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and the grace he has given me was not unfruitful". So I constantly thank God for the gift of my priestly vocation and at the same time I thank all those who have made this grace possible and all those who help me to live this vocation worthily.

A call to work for the Diocese of Brazzaville and the Church in Congo

More than ninety percent of the population of Congo is Christian, and Catholics are more or less fifty-two percent, but there is a great advance of the Evangelical Church (Protestant). That is why it is more and more necessary to have well trained priests, and in good cultural environments, to work in the Catholic Church not only in the formation of the clergy and the people of God, but also in evangelization and in the apostolate with the poor and those who are spiritually and materially indigent.

For this very reason, after completing my canonical formation in philosophy and then in theology, once ordained a priest, I had decided to return to the Ecole Normale Supérieure to continue my philosophy studies there... Who could have imagined that in our diocese, so poor in resources, we could have the opportunity to form a priest abroad? But two years later, my bishop considered it appropriate for me to go to Rome, to the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, because it was considered necessary for a priest to be formed in an academic and multicultural environment suitable for formation and integral development, and then return to work in the diocese.

So, thanks to a scholarship from CARF - Centro Academico Romano Foundation, the dream came true and today I am about to finish my Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy. I cannot express in words my gratitude to my benefactors at CARF for all they have done for me: I can only commend them every day, so that God may fill them with grace and blessings.