Vatican

Pope to make often delayed visit to South Sudan in July

cde.news desk 3 March 2022, 15:20 · 1 min read

epa09463266 Pope Francis celebrates the closing Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress at Budapest's Heroes Square in Budapest, Hungary, 12 September 2021. The pontiff is in Budapest for the first leg of his Apostolic visit to Hungary and Slovakia from 12 to 15 September 2021. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO

VATICAN CITY, March 3 (Reuters) – Pope Francis will visit South Sudan in July, the Vatican said on Thursday, making a trip he has repeatedly had to delay because of security concerns in a country still emerging from a post-independence civil war.

July will mark the 11th anniversary of South Sudan’s secession from Sudan. Civil war erupted two years later in 2013, causing 400,000 deaths. The two main sides signed a peace deal in 2018 but hunger and deadly clashes are still common across the country.

The Vatican said Francis will be in South Sudan July 5-7 after visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo July 2-5 on the same trip.

Though the 2018 peace deal halted the worst violence of that war, analysts say there are several unresolved issues, such as stalled reunification of the national army, that could plunge the country back into widespread conflict.

The pope has wanted to visit predominantly Christian South Sudan for years but each time planning for a trip began it had to be postponed because of the unstable situation.

In 2019 Francis hosted South Sudan’s opposing leaders at a Vatican retreat where he knelt and kissed their feet as he urged them not to return to conflict.

Photo – Pope Francis. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO