Status: 05.02.2023 12:18 p.m
Pope Francis has completed his trip to Central and East Africa. In South Sudan, at a mass at the end of the day, he appealed to politicians to work towards an end to the bloody conflicts.
With an urgent appeal for hope and peace, Pope Francis said goodbye to the people of South Sudan. In his closing words after a mass in the capital Juba, he assured the country’s Christians of the support of the universal church.
He and the leaders of the Anglican and Reformed Scottish Churches would do whatever they could to encourage steps towards peace. Anglican Primate Justin Welby and Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields had accompanied the Pope on the historically unprecedented ecumenical peace mission.
Pope Francis especially thanked the Sudanese women.
Image: dpa
“Resist from answering evil with evil”
Francis said in his farewell words that one should not miss the chance to create peace. “Even though our hearts bleed from the injustice suffered, let us once and for all refrain from answering evil with evil.” In the youngest country in Africa, which has only been independent since 2011, a bloody civil war raged until 2020. Around 400,000 people died. Displacement, hunger and natural disasters make the country the focus of one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world.
Quoting the recently deceased Pope Benedict XVI, Francis warned the country’s Christians to pass on their own hope. In South Sudan in particular, hope is “in the sign of women,” said Francis. He wanted to “thank all the women in the country in a special way and bless them”.
Great gesture reminder
Juba’s Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla recalled the spectacular gesture with which Pope Francis kissed the feet of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his former rival Riek Machar in the Vatican in 2019 to implore them for reconciliation. Mulla called it “disheartening that the peace process has progressed so slowly”. On the occasion of the Pope’s visit on Friday, Kiir announced that he intends to resume the interrupted dialogue with rebel groups.
According to official information, around 70,000 visitors celebrated the service in Juba with Francis in the open air. Together with the predominantly young Sudanese believers, most of whom have only experienced conflict throughout their lives, Francis also prayed for peace in Ukraine. He also recalled other countries on the African continent, “where so many of our brothers and sisters in the faith are suffering persecution and danger.”
The Pope was on the road in Africa for a total of almost a week. He first traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday and has been in South Sudan since Friday.
The first station was also characterized by appeals for peace. In the Congo, Francis met both with President Felix Tshishekedi and with victims of decades of violence in the east of the country. In addition, the Pope took a firm stance against the exploitation of the Congo, including by foreign mine operators.