Tombura-Yambio, 09 February, 2021 / 6:00 pm (ACI Africa).
A Catholic Bishop in South Sudan has appealed to the government to reverse a ban on public worship as the East Central African country battles the second wave of COVID-19, saying that people are already overwhelmed.
In a message issued on Saturday, February 6, Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio says that the country’s majority poor people are locked out of virtual prayers and that they need to take part in public worship.
“In this particular lockdown, I urge the government to reverse its decision to ban communal worship …The benefits of public worship are huge now that most people in my Diocese have poor or no access to technology,” Bishop Hiiboro says, underscoring the need to proceed with in-person liturgical celebrations.
He says, “As Christians, we have a deeper hope in God that comforts us beyond fear itself.”
On February 3, South Sudan government ordered a fresh closure of all pre-schools, schools, universities and all the other learning institutions, citing a surge in reported cases of COVID-19.