1 Franc Pope John Paul II

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has issued a staggering volume of commemorative coinage since the late 1990s, much of it produced by European mints for the collector market rather than domestic circulation. This John Paul II franc was struck two years before his death in April 2005, during the period when his declining health from Parkinson's disease was visible to the world and demand for papal memorabilia was already intensifying among Catholic collectors globally.

KM#156 is one of dozens of commemorative types attributed to the DRC in this period with no meaningful circulation history in Kinshasa.