PICTURES: Pope Francis arrives in volatile South Sudan
February 3, 2023
3 Min Read
Updated 2023/02/03 at 2:20 PM
Pope Francis disembarks a plane at Juba International Airport during his apostolic journey, in Juba, South Sudan, February 3, 2023. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
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Pope Francis arrived on Friday in South Sudan, a young African nation struggling with war, poverty and floods, for an unprecedented joint “pilgrimage of peace” with his Anglican and Scottish Presbyterian counterparts.
South Sudan broke away from Sudan to become independent in 2011 after decades of conflict, but civil war erupted in 2013. Despite a 2018 peace deal between the two main antagonists, violence and hunger still plague the country.
On the eve of the pope’s arrival, 27 people were killed in Central Equatoria state, where the country’s capital Juba is located, in tit-for-tat violence between cattle herders and a local militia.
In a first, the pope will be accompanied during his time in South Sudan by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the global Anglican Communion, and by Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.