As he began his first full day in South Sudan on Saturday, Pope Francis attempted to console the country’s long-suffering people.
He asked people to challenge injustice amid an ethnic conflict that has resulted in years of fighting while meeting with bishops, priests, and deacons at St Theresa’s Cathedral in Juba.
He urged his church brothers and sisters to develop the skills necessary to intervene on behalf of others and to speak out against injustice and deception.
“It is precisely this art of stepping into the middle of our brothers and sisters that the church’s pastors need to cultivate; the ability to step into the middle of their sufferings and tears, into the middle of their hunger for God and their thirst for love,” he said.
He went on to say that deception and injustice crush people and condemned “the use of violence to conduct business in the shadow of conflict.”
Francis also emphasized the plight of South Sudanese women, half of whom marry before the age of 18, are victims of sexual violence, and have the world’s highest maternal mortality rate.
In a report issued last year, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan stated that women and girls in the country face a “hellish existence.”
Pope Francis was welcomed by Christians in Juba. Local resident Mary Amos, said: “We are very happy to see the Pope here to visit us, we are proud.”
Joyce Severino Wani, another local resident, added, “Of course, the coming of our Pope in South Sudan wanting peace, we are very happy, the family of South Sudan is very happy.”
Pope Francis will spend three days in the country, along with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Presbyterian head of the Church of Scotland, and will hold a Mass on Sunday.
They hope to bring international attention to the country’s plight.