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Catholic Bishop in South Sudan Cautions against Pride, Says Deters “from exercising truth"

Bishop Alex Lodiong Sakor Eyobo of Yei Diocese in South Sudan. Credit: CRN

The Catholic Bishop of South Sudan’s Yei Diocese has cautioned the people of God in the East-Central African nation against pride and fear. 

In his homily on April 15, Bishop Alex Lodiong Sakor Eyobo said pride and fear prevent people from living the truth.

Our pride is deterring us from exercising the truth,” Bishop Lodiong said, and added, “When we are telling the truth we try to create some stories around the truth so that it is buried and denied.”

He went on to caution against preventing others from communicating truth, saying, “No one should stop the people of God from telling the truth as stated in the Gospel because it’s our responsibility to spread that good news to the people who are far from us.”

The Local Ordinary of Yei Diocese noted that “sometimes people are slow to submit to the truth because of resistance in their hearts.”

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“As Christians, we need the acceptance of truth by everyone, especially Christians,” the 51-year-old South Sudanese Bishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in May 2022 further said.

Bishop Lodiong added, “Anybody who wants to be on the safer side, embracing salvation, must accept these facts of telling the truth.”

“By telling lies, you are trying to create another confusion among the people of God,” the Catholic Church leader said in his Saturday homily.

Bishop Lodiong further called on the people of God in the world’s youngest nation to “continue obeying God by telling the truth.”

“We will not be shut down by whoever is against the truth; we will talk to serve the children of God from doing evil things,” he said.

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In his April 15 homily at Christ the King Cathedral of Yei diocese, the South Sudanese Catholic Bishop also cautioned against fear, saying it “leads to diminishing of truth and the creation of stories that carry the value of lies.” 

Bishop Lodiong said he found it regrettable that in South Sudan, there is fear of communicating truth because “when you are telling the truth, they take you as an opposition.”

He underscored the need to overcome fear amid threats, saying, “We are not and should not be scared by the warnings given by the authorities on our work for telling the truth.”

He further emphasized the need for South Sudanese to imitate the apostles who obeyed God by proclaiming the truth despite intimidation.

“We are going to go on proclaiming what God has created us to do for him to help his children,” Bishop Lodiong said April 15.

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Patrick Juma Wani is a South Sudanese journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. Patrick holds a Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from Makerere Institute for Social Development (MISD) in Uganda. He has over 7 years of extensive experience in leading the development and implementation of media, advocacy, communication and multimedia strategy and operations, with an excellent track record of editorial leadership, budget management, and stakeholder outreach. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.