Raise your voices against South Sudan injustice, pope tells Churches
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[February 04, 2023]
By Philip Pullella and Waakhe Simon Wudu
JUBA (Reuters) -Pope Francis said on Saturday Churches in South Sudan
"cannot remain neutral" but must raise their voices against injustice
and abuse of power, as he and two other Christian leaders conducted a
peace mission to the world's newest country.
On his first full day in South Sudan, Francis addressed Catholic
bishops, priests and nuns in the cathedral of St. Therese in the capital
Juba as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Church of
Scotland held services elsewhere.
South Sudan broke away from Sudan in 2011 but plunged into civil war in
2013 with ethnic groups turning on each other. Despite a 2018 peace deal
between the two main antagonists, bouts of inter-ethnic fighting have
continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians.
"Brothers and sisters, we too are called to intercede for our people, to
raise our voices against the injustice and the abuses of power that
oppress and use violence to suit their own ends," Francis said, adding
that religious leaders "cannot remain neutral before the pain caused by
acts of injustice".
There are 2.2 million internally displaced people in South Sudan, out of
a total population of about 11.6 million, and another 2.3 million have
fled the country as refugees, according to the United Nations.
Extreme poverty and hunger are rife, with two thirds of the population
needing humanitarian assistance as a result of conflict as well as three
years of catastrophic floods.
At the cathedral, Francis heard a nun tell of how two of her fellow
sisters were killed in an ambush near Juba in 2021.
"Let us ask ourselves what it means for us to be ministers of God in a
land scarred by war, hatred, violence, and poverty," Francis said, and
later led prayers for them.
"How can we exercise our ministry in this land, along the banks of a
river bathed in so much innocent blood?" he asked, referring to the
White Nile that runs through the country.
'YOU PROMISED MORE'
Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Church of
Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields will meet people displaced by war
and hear their stories later on Saturday.
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People wait before Pope Francis arrives
for a meeting with priests, deacons, consecrated persons and
seminarians at the Cathedral of Saint Therese during his apostolic
journey, in Juba, South Sudan, February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
The three Christian leaders, on an unprecedented "pilgrimage of
peace", will later take part in an open-air ecumenical prayer vigil
at a mausoleum for South Sudan's liberation hero John Garang, with
50,000 people expected to attend.
The joint visit is the first of its kind in Christian history.
South Sudan is predominantly Christian and tens of thousands of
people lined the streets of the capital Juba to welcome the pope
with singing, drumming and ululations on Friday when he arrived from
a visit to Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a strongly worded speech to South Sudan's leaders including its
previously warring President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek
Machar, Francis implored them to renounce violence, ethnic hatred
and corruption.
At the same event, Welby said he was grieved that violence had
continued after the 2018 peace deal and a 2019 gathering at the
Vatican during which the pope knelt to kiss the feet of the warring
leaders, begging them to bring peace to South Sudan.
"I am sad that we still hear of such tragedy. We hoped and prayed
for more. We expected more. You promised more," Welby told the
assembled leaders.
In his own speech, Kiir said his government was firmly committed to
consolidating peace in South Sudan.
(Writing by Estelle Shirbon and Philip Pullella, Editing by William
Maclean, Alexandra Hudson)
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