Who can forget the sight of Francis dropping to his
knees to kiss the feet of South Sudan’s top political leaders? The Pope made
this unexpected gesture to
the shock of everyone in the room at a retreat convened at Santa Marta on April
11, 2019. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of
the Church of England recalled: “Tears
were running down every face there, including the BBC cameraman.” Francis nearly prostrated himself before these
secular leaders to express his profound request that they unite and overcome
political differences to focus on the good of the nation. After the brutal civil wars of 1955-1972 and 1983-2005, a referendum in
January 2011 paved the way for South Sudan’s political independence. Unfortunately, the euphoria of that momentous
achievement would be short-lived when power struggles between President Kiir
and Vice President Machar over unresolved issues of oil revenues, ethnic
representation, and citizenship laws precipitated unprecedented political
instability that plagued its citizens since December 2013. Their rivalry
mutated into ethnic-based violence that spread destruction across the
perilously poor country between 2013 and 2018.
These posters were done for the Papal visit in 2022, postponed for now.
As a result of the renewed bonds formed in Rome and
multilateral incentives, Kiir and Machar formed a unity government in February 2020. Kiir, a churchgoing
Catholic, was very moved by Pope Francis’ challenge in Rome, and he said: “May the whole-hearted search for peace resolve
disputes, may love conquer hatred, and may revenge be disarmed by forgiveness.” So, this
is not a papal visit, but an ecumenical pilgrimage. In South Sudan, Pope
Francis will be
joined by the Anglican leader Welby,
as well as the Church of Scotland’s international ambassador, Presbyterian Rev.
Iain Greenshields. Bringing together Catholic, Episcopalian and Presbyterian
leaders meant aggregating the only organizations representing the beleaguered
South Sudanese people — some 6.7 million of
the 11 million population is Christian. A little more than 600,000 (around 6%)
is Muslim. A major reason why he is traveling to
the impoverished, war-torn African country on Friday is because he assured
President Salva Kiir that if Kiir and his political rivals forged a unity
government committed to peace — which they did in January 2020 — then the Holy
Father, together with leaders from the Church of England and Church of
Scotland, would strive to come in person, to encourage the world’s newest nation.
Organizing
the ecumenical pilgrimage is a way of recognizing extraordinary work being done
in the country. For example, facing a vast range of needs, Catholic men and
women religious from some 30 congregations invented a new way to serve: Known
as ‘Solidarity
With South Sudan’, the ministry collaborates
across religious orders and concentrates its most intensive programs on
training teachers, health care workers and midwives. About
700 teachers, trained at a two-year teacher-training college in Yambo, while 290
students graduated from the Catholic Health Training Institute, mainly nurses and midwives. The
civil war killed more than 400,000 people and displaced another more than 4.5
million. In this country,
88% of women cannot read or write; 82% of the population lives in poverty; and only 10% have access to
basic sanitation. Thank you Pope Francis for bringing healing to this new nation.