Louise Salle
Pope Francis is meeting with internally displaced people in South Sudan this Saturday, after urging its leaders to “a new leap” in favor of peace in a country torn by power struggles and extreme poverty. He travels for the first time in history with a head of the Protestant Church.
It’s historic: for the first time, Pope Francis travels abroad with a Protestant leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the head of the Anglican Church. They have both been traveling to South Sudan since Friday. It is the youngest state in the world, born of a split in 2011 with the North, but still plagued by an internal conflict between two clans of Christian faith. It is in this tense context that the two religious leaders set foot on Sudanese soil.
A war-torn Christian community
South Sudan is a former British colony, majority Christian at 60%. Many Catholics, but also many Anglicans, live there, sometimes opposed to each other, like these two political personalities who are currently vying for power. One is Catholic, the other is Protestant.
The objective for Francis, who recognizes, by coming with the Anglican leader, the importance of Protestantism in Africa is therefore to carry a message of peace that has weight. “It’s very important for us to show a sense of Christian unity. It’s a very important gesture,” says Peter Hooper, head of the Anglican community in France.
The situation remains very unstable in this country where the war has raged for a long time. Between 2013 and 2018, nearly 400,000 people died. And despite a peace agreement, the attacks continue this Thursday, just before the arrival of François. Twenty civilians were killed in the south of the country.
Source: Europe1
I have been working as a journalist for over 10 years. In that time, I have covered the news from all corners of the world, and written about everything from politics to business.I’m now a full-time author, and my work can be found at Global happenings. My aim is to bring you up-to-date news and views on global affairs, in a format that is easy to read and understand.
