1 Franc Pope John Paul II

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has issued a substantial volume of commemorative franc pieces since the late 1990s, many bearing foreign dignitaries and world figures with no meaningful connection to Congolese history. These were produced primarily for the collector market, not circulation — the country's actual monetary economy runs almost entirely on the US dollar in practice. John Paul II died in April 2005, meaning this piece was struck while he was still alive, an increasingly rare pope at that point, his papacy already the third-longest in recorded history.