Pope Francis urged the religious authorities of South Sudan this Saturday to “get their hands dirty” to help the suffering people and to give a “new impetus” to peace efforts in the youngest country in the world, torn by fighting of power.
Together with the heads of the Churches of England and Scotland, as well as representatives of other Christian denominations in South Sudan, the pontiff stressed in Juba, the capital, that the “torturous” path of peace cannot be postponed.
This country, with a Catholic majority and some 12 million inhabitants, gained independence in 2011 from Sudan, with a Muslim majority, and between 2013 and 2018 suffered a civil war that left 380,000 dead.
Arriving at the cathedral of Santa Teresa, Francis asked Catholic bishops, priests and religious “to walk in the midst of suffering and tears” and “to get their hands dirty for the people.”
Despite a peace agreement signed in 2018, violence persists and the country had 2.2 million displaced people in December, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Some 4,000 people, according to the authorities, gathered very early to wait for the Supreme Pontiff in the courtyard of the Cathedral of Santa Teresa, many of them waving national flags, in a festive atmosphere.
“We have come here to receive your blessings. Everything is a question of peace. Pope Francis cannot even walk, but he comes here to encourage our leaders,” John Makuei, 24, who arrived earlier, told the AFP news agency. before dawn so as not to miss this “historical day”.
At the end of the day, he will deliver his third and final address of the day during an ecumenical prayer accompanied by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church, and Iain Greenshields, the most important figure in the Church of Scotland.
This Friday, the Supreme Pontiff urged the political authorities to adopt concrete actions in this country plagued by hunger and misery and in which 60 ethnic groups live together.
“Future generations will honor or erase the memory of your names based on what you do now,” warned Francis, who is visiting South Sudan for the first time since it gained independence.
“Enough of spilled blood, enough of conflicts, enough of attacks and reciprocal accusations on whoever has been guilty, enough of leaving the people thirsty for peace. Enough of destruction, it’s time for construction,” he urged.
The Catholic Church plays a key role in areas without government services and where aid workers are often targeted, if not killed violently.
The NGO Human Rights Watch urged religious leaders to put pressure on the authorities to “resolve the current human rights crisis in the country and the widespread impunity.”
After his meeting with the pope, the president, Salva Kiir, announced in a decree that he was pardoning 71 prisoners, 36 of them sentenced to death, but without giving further details.
In 2019, a year after the signing of the peace agreement, Francis received Kiir and the vice president, Riek Mashar, at the Vatican, to whom, on his knees, he begged them to make peace, a symbolic gesture that marked the inhabitants of the country.
South Sudan is the second and final stage of this third tour of Francis through sub-Saharan Africa.
The trip began on Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where he condemned the “cruel atrocities” perpetrated for decades by armed groups, which left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced.
This tour was supposed to take place in July 2022, but it was postponed due to his health problems, which require him to use a wheelchair.
During the Pope’s trip, rebels from the National Salvation Front (NAS) carried out an attack that left at least 27 dead and two injured in Kajo-keji county (Central Equatoria, South Sudan).
The attack, which was publicized this Saturday by local media, targeted alleged ranchers from Bor county who had murdered 21 locals to avenge six co-religionists killed by members of the NAS, reported the region’s commissioner, Phanuel Dumo Jame Lokajasuk.
