Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of Mazalaga in the then Belgian Congo, later Zaïre and nowadays the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi CICM., came from a pagan tribal chief family. Receiving his primary education at the Catholic mission of Boyange, he entered the Minor Seminary Notre Dame de Grâce of Bolongo and later at the Major Seminary of Kabwe before joining the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Katoka in Western Kasai. Earning a doctorate in sociology from the Catholic Institute of Paris and another in pastoral theology from the Lumen Vitae Institute of Brussels, he underwent further studies in letters and sciences at the Overseas Institute of Higher Studies in Paris. Ordained priest on July 13, 1958, by Msgr. François Van den Berghe CICM., Apostolic Vicar of Lisala, back in Congo upon finishing his studies, he was appointed pastor of the parish of Saint-Pierre in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa. Elected vice-provincial of his Congregation, he went on to serve as president of the Assembly of Superiors Major for the Province of Kinshasa, vice-president of the Assembly of Superiors Major of Zaïre and superior of his Congregation in Africa. Pope Paul VI named him archbishop of the titular see of Menefessi and appointed him coadjutor with right of succession of Mbandaka-Bikoro on July 8, 1976, receiving his episcopal consecration on the following November 7, from Cardinal Joseph Malula, Archbishop of Kinshasa. Succeeding to the see of Mbandaka-Bikoro on November 11, 1977, he acted as vice-president of the Episcopal Conference of Zaïre from 1979 until 1984. Transferred to the metropolitan see of Kinshasa on July 7, 1990, Pope John Paul II created him cardinal priest in the consistory of June 28, 1991 with the title of Santa Lucia a Piazza d'Armi. Elected president of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo for a four-year term in its 34th Plenary Assembly on July 13, 2000, Cardinal Etsou died of pneumonia on Saturday, January 6, 2007 at the University Hospital of Louvain, Belgium, where he had been hospitalized for two weeks, receiving treatment for severe diabetes. His remains were returned to Congo for interment inside the cathedral of Notre Dame du Congo of Kinshasa, beside his predecessor, Cardinal Joseph Malula, the first Congolese Cardinal.