"No more bloodshed," Pope Francis Begs South Sudanese Leaders on Day 1 of Pilgrimage

The pope said “I have come here as a pilgrim, a pilgrim of reconciliation, in the hope of accompanying you on your journey of peace. It is a circuitous journey, yet one that can no longer be postponed.”

He is joined by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields to visit a country that is 60% Christian.

“We undertook this ecumenical pilgrimage of peace after hearing the plea of an entire people that, with great dignity, weeps for the violence it endures, its persistent lack of security, its poverty and the natural disasters that it has experienced,” Francis said.

“Years of war and conflict seem never to end and, even recently, there have been bitter clashes,” he noted.

A day before Pope Francis’ arrival, at least 27 farmers and herders were killed in a Feb. 2 attack in South Sudan’s Kajo Keji County, a region approximately 96 miles south of Juba on the border with Uganda.

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“At the same time,” the pope said, “the process of reconciliation seems stagnant and the promise of peace unfulfilled.”

Before Pope Francis’ speech, President Salva Kiir Mayardit announced his intention to resume peace negotiations with rebel groups in 2023.

South Sudan’s government had pulled out of the Rome peace talks in November 2022.

“In honor of the Holy Father Pope Francis’ historic visit to our country, and our declaration of 2023 as the year of peace and reconciliation, I am officially announcing the lifting of the suspension of the Rome peace talks with the holdout groups,” he said.

Mayardit also mentioned the September 2022 Road Map, a transitional period of 24 months for the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement.

Pope Francis asked that an “understanding be reached and progress be made in moving forward with the Peace Accord and the Road Map!”

“In a world scarred by divisions and conflict, this country is hosting an ecumenical pilgrimage of peace, which is something rare; it represents a change of direction, an opportunity for South Sudan to resume sailing in calm waters, taking up dialogue, without duplicity and opportunism,” he said.

“May it be for everyone an occasion to revive hope,” he added.

Pope Francis also condemned violence against women and encouraged their greater inclusion in political positions.

“Future generations will either venerate your names or cancel their memory, based on what you now do,” he told the country’s leaders. “For just as the Nile leaves its sources to begin its course, so the course of history will leave behind the enemies of peace and bring renown to those who are true peacemakers. Indeed, as Scripture tells us, ‘there is posterity for the man of peace.’”

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Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.