PAPAL VISIT SOUTH SUDAN: Pope Francis Calls Fraternal Christian Unity a Catalyst for Humanity, Peace in South Sudan
Sarah Pelaji
On 4th February 2023, Pope Francis led an ecumenical prayer service with other Christian leaders stressing them to promote peace in South Sudan.
All religious leaders who attended the ecumenical prayer led a prayer service for Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian Christians in Juba’s John Garang’s Mausoleum.
“Different voices have united to form a single voice. Together, as God’s holy people, we have prayed for this people and its suffering,” he said.
On this ecumenical pilgrimage for peace, Pope Francis journeyed with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields whom joined him earlier on February 4th for a meeting with displaced people.
He requested all those present to reflect on three verbs saying, “The first, is to pray. Pope Francis noted that prayer gives all people the strength to go forward, to overcome fear, to glimpse, even in the darkness, the salvation that God is even now preparing.”
The Holy Father urged all those present to support each other in this effort.
“In the diversity of our confessions, let us feel united among ourselves, as one family, responsible to pray for everyone, he said.”
Speaking of the verb ‘work’, Pope Francis noted that the peace of God is not only a truce amid conflicts but a fraternal fellowship that comes from uniting and not absorbing, from pardoning and not overpowering, from reconciling and not imposing.
He stressed the need to work together for the poor, who make up the bulk of South Sudan’s population of roughly 11 million.
To this end, he praised the contributions the country’s various Christian communities make to healthcare, education and charitable outreach.
Holy Father insisted that Christians must choose peace. “Those who choose Christ choose peace always while those who unleash war and violence betray the Lord and deny his Gospel.”
The third verb is ‘to journey’. The Pope noted that in South Sudan Christian communities have been deeply committed to promoting processes of reconciliation so he insisted realization, expressed not only in words but also in deeds that prior to any historical divisions, there remains one unchanging fact, namely, that they are Christians.
Pope Francis introduced two final words for the South Sudanese encouraging them to persevere in their journey: “Let us love each other constantly, from the heart,” he insisted while saying that Christian leaders in particular are called not just to pray together but also intercede for their people, just as Moses did when he was fleeing the Egyptian army.
“In the diversity of our confessions, let us feel united among ourselves, as one family, responsible to pray for everyone,” Pope said while asking people to pray specifically that equitable provisions will be made for the use of its rich and fertile land and that the country will be crowned with the promised peace that, sadly, has yet to come.
Pope Francis also stressed the importance of not just praying but working together for peace saying God wants Christians to be not only a sign and instrument of intimate union with God but also of the unity of the entire human family.
The peace that God wants, he said, is not merely a truce to end conflicts but rather a fraternal fellowship that comes from uniting and not absorbing; from pardoning and not overpowering; from reconciling and not imposing.
“Let us work tirelessly, dear brothers and sisters, for the peace that the Spirit of Jesus and the Father urges us to build: a peace that integrates diversity and promotes unity in plurality.
True peace, harmonizes differences, whereas the spirit hostile to God and humanity uses diversity as a means of division,” he said.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also insisted all Christians to be one for when they are one, they value each other. He wanted the value of young people for they are majority in S. Sudan.
“Young people of S. Sudan you are majority and you are not the future but the present. If we value you, we shall listen to your hopes for peace and priorities to shape our nation and the church. You will never be forced into war, to kill, you will disagree with others but still love them,” he said.
He also insisted a respect to women that young men should respect them, “Respect women, never rape them never use them to satisfy your desire. When we are one, we value and honor women of South Sudan. He said that Women in S. Sudan live with trauma and fear of sexual mistreatments even in their own homes, yet they are incredible women of strength.
Therefore, he insisted Christians from different churches and countries to unite together and propagate peace and fraternal love, respect and value for all.
