Let’s Foster Unity “we celebrated with visit of the Pope”: Apostolic Nuncio at Holy Mass in Rumbek Diocese, South Sudan

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

“The Catholic Church is really that Church which is for the whole world, universal, for all peoples, as the word Catholic means it is for all peoples, nobody is excluded. Whatever language, tribe, color, we’re all part of the same Church, the one family of God, who comes together this morning to sit around the table, listen to the stories about Jesus and to be served,” he had added.

In his remarks at the end of Holy Mass, the Dutch-born Vatican diplomat, who arrived in Rumbek for a four-day pastoral visit alongside his collaborators at the Nairobi and Juba Nunciatures, Mons. Ionut Paul from Romania and Mons. Luciano Labanga from Italy, respectively, and Bishop John Mbinda of Kenya’s Lodwar Diocese, among others emphasized the need to foster unity in diversity.

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

Let us foster the “unity we celebrated with the visit of the Pope last year 2023, the first days of February where the motto of that visit was that ‘All may be one’. It is very important that we maintain unity in the Church,” he said.

It is the kind of unity that “goes beyond what we feel or think because we are all one in Christ,” Archbishop van Megen said, and explained, “We have different tribes, different backgrounds, different colors, different languages but we are under a beautiful Church; the Catholic Church, so to say, is for all people.”

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

He went on to recall his latest encounter with Pope Francis “six weeks ago in Rome”, saying that the Holy Father “told me the Church is for everybody; nobody is excluded; everyone is welcomed in the Church; saints and sinners are all welcomed in that Church in Christ.”

“Together we will build this Diocese of Rumbek…Together we stand for Christ; in the grace of the Holy Spirit, we work for unity… one family of all believers,” the Nairobi-based Vatican diplomat said at Holy Family Cathedral of Rumbek Diocese on April 28.

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

The pastoral visit of the Apostolic Nuncio to Rumbek Diocese follows expressions of solidarity with the Local Ordinary of the South Sudanese Diocese after the acquittal of Fr. John Mathiang Machol, the Clergy of Rumbek Diocese previously convicted and sentenced for masterminding the 26 April 2021 shooting of Bishop Christian Carlassare, at the time Bishop-elect for the South Sudanese Catholic Diocese.

On April 5, members of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SSS-CBC) convened an “an emergency meeting” in Juba, during which they voiced their “deep solidarity” with Bishop Carlassareafter “the recent release of Fr. John Mathiang Machol, the main suspect in the attempted murder of the bishop three years ago.”

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

On April 21, the General Council of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ)expressed support for Bishop Carlassare following what it described as “recent developments”.

During the court hearings in the case that was first mentioned on 26 January 2022, a witness and one of the suspects said the plot to shoot the Italian-born MCCJ member was based on the fact that he was a foreigner, and that a native Clergy would have been a preferred candidate for the Diocese that had been vacant since July 2011 following the sudden death of Bishop Mazzolari.

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Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

While a High Court in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, convicted and sentenced Fr. Mathiang for seven years and the Court of Appeal doubled the jail-term to 14 years, the country’s Supreme Court “quashed” all charges against him.

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

On his arrival in Rumbek Diocese on April 27, the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya and South Sudan emphasized the missionary nature of the Catholic Church that he said is universal and international.

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

In his homily at Holy Family Cathedral on April 28, Archbishop van Megen recounted Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus after he had, through the persecution of Christians, “gained points for himself, gained points for the Pharisees, gained points for his tribe.”

“Saul, his name, was also very famous; he was important, and at least he found himself very important; nobody could touch him.Then he was pushed off the horse by Jesus himself ... Then there is conversion,” he recounted.

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

Saul, the Vatican diplomat continued, “understands the evil he has done; he shows remorse; he is humiliated, humbled ... the name changes from Saul the mighty king to Paul. Saul, now Paul, goes out to announce Good News, he who has been a killer.”

“Paul is a man of Holy Spirit”, who will speak “the many languages” that characterized the Pentecost experience, Archbishop van Megen said on April 28.

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

Like it happened to Paul, he said, the Holy Spirit has the capacity to accomplished much in the life of Christians, including the ability to go “through many challenges”.

Credit: Fr. Luka Dor/Rumbek Diocese

On April 29, Archbishop van Megen was scheduled to preside over Holy Mass to mark the 12th anniversary of the presence of the Spiritans in the South Sudanese Diocese, with Bishop Carlassare, Bishop John Mbinda of Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Lodwar, and Fr. Kenneth Okoli, a member of the Rome-based General Council of the Spiritans, among the concelebrants.