Joseph-Albert Malula was born on 12 December 1917 in
Léopoldville,
Belgian Congo (modern Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo) to Remacle Ngalula and Jeanne Bolumbu. He attended primary school in Léopoldville, under the direction of Fr.
Raphaël de la Kethulle de Ryhove. From 1931 to 1934, he attended the
minor seminary in
Mbata Kiela, where he met
Joseph Kasa-Vubu, who would later become the first
president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then the minor seminary of Bolongo in Lisala until 1937. He studied philosophy (1937–40) and
theology (1940–44) at the
Major Seminary of Christ-Roi in
Kabwe. He served as a professor at the Minor Seminary of
Bokoro from 1944 to 1946 as well. Malula was
ordained to the priesthood by Bishop
Georges Six,
CICM, on 9 June 1946, in the
Stade Reine Astrid. He then resumed teaching at the minor seminary, and served as
vicar and
pastor at several
parishes in Léopoldville. In 1953, he visited
Algiers, Tunisia, Malta, Rome, and Belgium. , 1961 On 18 July 1959, Malula was appointed
Auxiliary Bishop of Léopoldville and
Titular Bishop of
Attanasus by
Pope John XXIII. He received his
episcopal consecration on the following 20 September from Archbishop
Félix Scalais, CICM, with Bishops
Pierre Kimbondo and
Joseph Nkongolo serving as
co-consecrators, at the
Stade Tata Raphaël. Malula attended the
Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, during which he was advanced to the
Archbishop of Léopoldville on 7 July 1964. He was installed as Archbishop on 27 August of that same year, and the name of the
archdiocese was later changed to Kinshasa on 30 May 1966.
Pope Paul VI created him
Cardinal Priest of
Santi Protomartiri a Via Aurelia Antica in the
consistory of 28 April 1969. He was the first
cardinal from
Zaire. At a
Mass in 1970, at which
President Mobutu was present, the Cardinal claimed Zaire's ruling class was enriching itself and ignoring the people's misery In 1971, despite being an advocate of African culture, he expressed his disapproval of Christians giving up their baptismal names in an article in the Catholic weekly magazine,
Afrique Chrétienne, following the renaming of the Republic of the Congo as the Republic of Zaire. President Mobutu subsequently removed the Cardinal from his
government-owned residence and suspended the magazine for six months. Malula was one of the
cardinal electors who participated in the
conclaves of
August and
October 1978, which selected
Popes John Paul I and
John Paul II, respectively. He supported
Albino Cardinal Luciani at the August conclave, and even gave him a public embrace before he was elected. Before the October conclave began, he spoke of the
Vatican's pomp, saying,
"All that imperial paraphernalia. All that isolation of the Pope. All that medieval remoteness and inheritance that makes Europeans think that the Church is only Western. All that tightness that makes them fail to understand that young countries like mine want something different. They want simplicity. They want Jesus Christ. All that, all that must change." ==Death==