The Pope on Thursday accepted an invitation to visit South Sudan, which gained independence from the north in 2011, at an audience in Rome with church leaders.
He will need to be formally invited by the government of South Sudan before he can travel there.
Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba, Episcopal Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak, Primate of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan, and Rev Peter Gai Lual Marrow, moderator of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan were in Rome to share with the Pope some of the traumas being suffered in South Sudan, ChristianToday reports.
Vatican Radio reported that the Pope told the church leaders: “Look, I am with you, I suffer and I live with you. I want to visit southern Sudan. I want to visit South Sudan.”
Rev Peter Gai Lual Marrow said, “He accepted the invitation and said that in principle he really wants to come.”
South Sudan, where most of the population is Christian or animist, is caught in violent conflict between those that support the present and former president.
Peace agreements reached last year failed in July, plunging South Sudan into more violence. Amnesty has described the “deliberate killings of civilians, rapes of women and girls, and looting.”
Archbishop Loro said after the meeting that he told Pope Francis some of what is going on.
“There is war, there are killings, there’s death, there are refugees, there are people in the camps in the country. There is just disgust about the situation. People feel that although there is a government, it is as if the president is absent.
During the meeting, the Pope noted the “good and fruitful collaboration” between churches in South Sudan who are working to create reconciliation opportunities. The population “yearns urgently to a secure life and a better future,” he was told.
Additional reporting by ChristianToday, Reuters.
