Pope Francis is set to visit South Sudan in July this year of 2022, the Catholic Archbishop of Juba His Grace, Stephen Ameyu Mulla announced on Thursday.
Pope Francis will visit Democratic Republic of Congo from the 2nd to 5th of July and then travel to South Sudan on 5th-7th July 2022, after repeatedly delaying his trip due to security concerns in the country. The Apostolic Nunciature from the Vatican Embassy Mser Lonut Paul announced the visit.
“I would like to make this official announcement which is released at this same moment in the Vatican. At the invitation of their respective heads of state and bishops, His Holiness Pope Francis will make an apostolic journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo from the 2nd to 5th of July 2022 visiting the cities of Kinshasa and Goma, and to South Sudan from the 5th to 7th of July 2022 visiting Juba,” Mser Lonut Paul announced.
He added: “The program and the details of the journey will be announced in the due course.”
Archbishop Ameyu speaking at the same press conference said the Pope is concerned about the political situation in the country and the wellbeing of the people of South Sudan.
“The Holy Father would like to come to visit South Sudan because he is a pastor and it is from a religious perspective. But of course, he is not only coming to visit the religious but he has also other concerns. He is concerned about the lives of the people generally; he is concerned about politics in South Sudan. And so he will come in solidarity with the South Sudanese,” Archbishop Ameyu stated.
The Minister of Presidential Affairs Dr. Barnaba Marial assured the head of the catholic church of enhanced security during his visit.
“As far as South Sudan is concerned, the government is absolutely hundred percent sure that the security situation in this country is stable and we will be happy, you and me and all the citizens of this country that his Holiness the Pope visits us and this is the long-awaited request by the Christian community of this country that his Holiness visits,” he said.
Pope Francis is expected to visit South Sudan with the Anglican Bishop of Canterbury.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, Jim Wallace, are widely expected to join Francis for the South Sudan portion of the trip. Last month, Welby characterized the joint ecumenical travel plans as “history.”
The three faith leaders have sought to visit South Sudan since 2017, although past security concerns had foiled those plans.
Over the last five years, Francis has been especially attentive to South Sudan’s peace process, meeting together with the South Sudanese president and the country’s rebel leadership at the Vatican in 2019.
In a now memorable scene from that encounter, the pope knelt down and kissed the feet of the 5-member leadership delegation, begging both the president and the rebel leadership not to return to civil war. Nearly 400,000 people have been killed since the war began in December 2013 and an estimated 4 million people have been displaced.
Although a 2018 peace deal has brought relative peace to the country, implementation of key aspects has been stalled and could plunge the country back into conflict, analysts say.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office published a report on the deaths of more than 400 civilians during fighting last year between two rebel groups in Tambura County, Western Equatoria State, this week.
