Pope Francis opened the second and final leg of his African pilgrimage by heading to South Sudan on Friday, hoping to encourage the young country’s stalled peace process and draw international attention to continuing fighting and worsening security. humanitarian crisis.
Francis had a final appointment Friday in Kinshasa with the Congolese bishops before flying to the South Sudanese capital Juba. There, he joins the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields, in a new ecumenical push for peace.
Together, the three represent the religious leadership of the largely Christian country, the world’s youngest, which gained independence from Muslim-majority Sudan in 2011 but has been beset by civil war and conflict. The Christian leaders aim to make a joint call on the political leaders of South Sudan to put aside their differences and work for the good of their people.
Ongoing fighting, including attacks this week in the south that killed 27 people, has displaced some 2 million people and hampered the implementation of a 2018 peace deal, but residents said Francis’ arrival in the first papal visit to South Sudan gave them hope. .
“The Pope will bring us peace,” Monica Lado, a 40-year-old from Juba, said on the eve of the arrival of the three leaders.
A group of about 80 Catholics from the central city of Rumbek walked for nine days, covering an estimated 300 kilometers, arriving in Juba on Thursday to cheers. The pilgrims were sore, tired and blistered, but said they hoped to attend Francis’ great Mass on Sunday and bring blessings to their homes and families.
“As long as the Pope comes, I think what was killing us will stop,” Victoria Yar, 58, said smiling as she sat on a plastic chair to rest after the long journey.
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Another pilgrim on the trek, Mary Yom, a mother of eight, lost two children to violence. “Our country is being destroyed by conflict and we hope that the Pope will come with peace and that no one else will be killed,” she said.
Francis and Welby first announced plans to visit South Sudan in 2017, but security concerns repeatedly thwarted the trip. In an effort to move the process forward, Francis presided over a joint prayer at the Vatican in 2019 and knelt and kissed the feet of rival South Sudanese leaders, begging them to make peace.
But the fight continues, evidence of violence simmering in communities sometimes awash with guns and ethnic tensions in one of the world’s poorest countries. At least 27 people were killed this week in Kajo-keji, Central Equatoria state, in the latest communal violence between cattle herders and other residents. Kajo-keji County Commissioner Phanuel Dumo called the attack “barbaric” and urged calm.
Pope Francis leaves for South Sudan from Kinshasa, Congo on February 3, 2023. Pope Francis is heading to South Sudan in hopes of drawing national attention to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country.
(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Overall, the International Committee of the Red Cross this week reported an influx of injured patients in recent months due to renewed fighting across the country. “We see terrible injuries and often airlifting patients from remote areas is the only way to save their lives,” said the head of the ICRC delegation in Juba, Pierre Dorbes.
In comments on local Eye Radio on Thursday, President Salva Kiir vowed that the country would never go to war again as long as he was in power.
“The coming of the Holy Father to South Sudan is your prayers that have brought him,” he said.
But part of the impasse in the implementation of the peace deal is the ongoing political friction between Kiir and MP Riek Machar, who led opposition forces during the country’s civil war and has long been interested in maintaining power himself. Critics have cited a lack of political will over the slow implementation of the deal in a country that is also hampered by alleged widespread official corruption.
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In Juba, Francis is widely expected to repeat his call for both the men and all parties in South Sudan to commit to moving forward on the deal and ending corrupt practices. The delays have already forced the postponement of the country’s first presidential election for another two years.
In addition, Francis is expected to call for an end to the ongoing fighting and the dire situation of women in South Sudan.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan reported last year that all armed groups across the country were using “widespread violations” as a weapon. She expressed shock at interviewees who described “stunningly brutal and prolonged gang rapes perpetrated against them by multiple men, often while their husbands, fathers or sons were forced to watch, powerless to intervene.”
In addition, the United Nations warned in November that some 9.4 million people out of a population of 12.4 million would need humanitarian aid and protection this year, half a million more than in 2022. It cited continued violence, restrictions on access to aid groups and climate change. conditions including floods and droughts increase the need.
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At the same time, the UN has warned that the funding needed for a larger aid response has dwindled as donors redirect aid budgets to Ukraine and other crises.
Poni Mary, 45, who fled the country in 2014 during the civil war but returned to Juba last year, said she hoped South Sudanese would use the pope’s visit to forgive each other.
“If you still have sin, anger or problems in your heart with another person, it will be difficult for you to receive God’s blessings,” he said.
