| The Prefect for the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD), who arrived in South Sudan on Saturday, February 3 for his eight-day pastoral trip has described his visit as an additional demonstration of the solidarity of the Catholic Church, and that of the Holy Father, with South Sudanese in their search for lasting peace.
Michael Cardinal Czerny’s February 2-9 pastoral visit to South Sudan marks one year since the first-ever Papal visit to the world’s newest and youngest nation. The 3-5 February 2023 Ecumenical Visit, which Pope Francis undertook alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields was organized and realized under the theme, “I pray that all may be one”, taken from John 17. In his homily at St. Theresa’s Kator Cathedral of Juba Archdiocese on Sunday, February 4, Cardinal Czerny said, “In his name, I bring you the Holy Father’s affection, solidarity and prayer. He has this world’s youngest nation close to his heart.” To underscore the “affection (and) solidarity” that he said Pope Francis has for the people of God in South Sudan, the Vatican-based Cardinal recalled the 11 April 2019 dramatic gesture when Pope Francis knelt and kissed the feet of President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar among others. The Holy Father demonstrated his closeness to South Sudanese “in word and gesture during the 2019 retreat in Rome for your nation’s political leaders,” the Czechian-born member of the Society of Jesus (SJ/Jesuits) said, adding that Pope Francis’ Ecumenical Visit “to this great nation a year ago” was an additional manifestation of his affection and solidarity. Pope Francis has also demonstrated his compassion and love for South Sudanese “in his repeated exhortations to seek peace and make it lasting,” he further said. “My visit in his name is another sign of the solidarity of the whole Church with you in your struggle for peace,” the Prefect of the Vatican DPIHD said in his February 4 homily in Juba. Photo credits: Vatican Media
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Date Published:5 February 2024 Author:Alice, Officer
Article Tags: Latest news, South Sudan, Solidarity, Peace, Hope, Papal visit in South Sudan |
