Juba, South Sudan
CNN
—
Pope Francis met with a group of hundreds of South Sudan internally displaced by the war on Saturday at an event in the capital Juba and called for peace.
“I would like to renew my strong and heartfelt appeal to the crowd gathered at the Hall of Freedom to end all conflicts and seriously restart the peace process,” the Pope said.
“There is no room for delay,” Francis applauded. His words echoed his message to the country’s leaders on Friday night when he criticized the “stall” peace process.
The Pope’s visit to South Sudan comes just days after the 86-year-old pope celebrated mass for one million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), another country plagued by poverty and conflict. His visit to the DRC was the first papal visit since 1985 and came at a time when the African country was plagued by armed conflict and a worsening refugee crisis.
South Sudan has been in a state of civil war since 2013, and the 2018 peace deal has yet to be fully implemented. According to UNHCR, the conflict has forced more than 4 million of her South Sudanese, 65% of whom under the age of 18, to flee the country or become internally displaced.
“The future cannot be in refugee camps,” the pope said on Saturday.
“There is no room for further delay,” he said, adding that “many children born in recent years only know the reality of camps for displaced persons.”
Photos: Pope Francis visits DRC and South Sudan
Rebecca Nyakul, a girl living in a refugee camp in Juba, addressed the Pope asking for a special blessing for internally displaced and refugee children.
“We know you’re a great leader because you came with us despite your bad knee.
“Pope Francis, we love you. We will never forget this day. Thank you for loving South Sudan,” she gave a big round of applause.
Francis gave a special blessing to the children of South Sudan, and Archbishop Justin Welby of the Church of England and Iin Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, joined the Pope on the trip. The three churches represent the majority Christian denomination to which most South Sudanese belong.
On Saturday evening, all three Christian leaders will participate in a joint prayer ceremony at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba. The Pope will hold an outdoor mass in Juba on Sunday morning before returning to Rome in the afternoon.
“South Sudan, ravaged by years of war, desperately wants to end the constant violence that has displaced so many people and forced them to live in extremely difficult conditions. I do,” the pope said on Tuesday before leaving Rome for Africa.
South Sudan gained independence from Muslim-majority Sudan in 2011 after decades of conflict. Fighting broke out between Vice President Machar and those who had allied with him, plunging into civil war. group.
In April 2019, His Holiness held a spiritual retreat for South Sudan’s political and religious leaders at the Vatican, kneeling in an unprecedented gesture and kissing the feet of President Kiir and Vice President Machar. bottom.
