South Sudan Needs Sincere, Unconditional Love to “be in peace”: Catholic Bishop

The Local Ordinary of Yei Diocese who celebrated 22 years of Priestly Ministry on June 24 further said, “Let this love develop into the love of Christ which is unconditional.”

“If we are able to love in this way, we will not oppress a stranger. We will not cheat the widow,” he further said, and continued, “We will respect orphans, we will not kill, we will be compassionate to people.”

The Catholic Church leader decried various forms of crime in the world’s newest nation, saying, “We are robbing, killing, and oppressing because we don’t love our neighbor.”

“Today in this country of ours, we see everywhere theft, killing, corruption, and exploitation of the people,” the 52-year-old South Sudanese Bishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in May 2022 said. 

“It is because we don’t love them. Let us not pretend; we don’t love these people. Even if we come to Church like this, our hearts are not with our people,” Bishop Lodiong said during the October 29 Eucharist celebration.

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Kerbino Kuel Deng is a South Sudanese journalist who is passionate about Church communication. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.