SOUTH SUDAN: Bishops’ Easter messages: South Sudan leaders must rise up to Peace

The Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of
Juba Paulino Lukudu Loro has asked the leadership of the country to bring peace
during this Easter season to the people of South Sudan who are suffering from
war and hunger.

Bishop Lukudu said that the celebrations of
Easter have a simple message of peace to the people of South Sudan. “If
our people are suffering, they are dying, they are suffering of hunger because
of you, then our leaders, you must rise from dead and go to peace,” he
said.

The Archbishop said that the people of South
Sudan including elderly and young children have been suffering for too long. “Jesus
did not go to Jerusalem simply to suffer and to die, no,” he said.
“We were not created to suffer from hunger, to suffer from anything else,
and to kill ourselves. No, God did not create us for these. God created us so
that we are saved.”

The church leader said peace is coming and asked
the South Sudanese to be courageous in their situation. “Today we have not
yet seemingly reached the end of the negotiations that is we have not yet
achieved peace. We are waiting for it,” he said.

The bishop hoped that with international efforts
to help the people of South Sudan there will be peace. He urged the government
and opposition to behave honestly in their work to deliver results for the
people of South Sudan.

In another Easter message, the catholic Bishop
of Yei Rt. Rev Erkolano Lodu Tombe has asked the SPLM –in Opposition, leader Dr.
Riek Machar Teny to return to Juba for the peace to take effect.

Bishop Lodu Tombe was speaking while giving his
Easter message at Christ the King Cathedral in Yei on Sunday.

SOURCE: CRN