Vatican calls on South Sudanese leaders to ensure peace

Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Vatican City, arrived in Juba and said Pope Francis is concerned with the suffering of people, especially children and women in the country, following the recent outburst of violence.

When leadership doesn’t ensure the wellbeing of people, then it’s time to reflect on what is going wrong.

He said it is unacceptable for powerful leaders to “distress” people. “When leadership doesn’t ensure the wellbeing of people, then it’s time to reflect on what is going wrong. Why is that leadership not ensuring the wellbeing of God’s people?”

“The Vatican is in harmony with South Sudan,” he said, adding that it will support the country amid its fragile ceasefire.

The Vatican’s Peace and Justice President said Pope Francis and the entire world were in unity with the people of South Sudan. He planned “to tell the people of South Sudan that we are with you, we know what you are going through”, he said. He added that development in the war-torn country cannot take place without peace.

The Catholic Archbishop of Juba Paolino Lokudu Loro, said the church is ready to take part in the process of peace and reconciliation in the country, after hundreds were killed by troops during the latest spate of violence. “Any person taking up arms, bitter in their heart should begin to think about peace,” he said.

The Vatican President of Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a Ghanaian national, will be in the country for four days. His visit comes a week after deadly fighting in Juba and elsewhere displaced thousands of people, adding to the millions of people who fled their homes during the civil war which broke out in December 2013.

The Vatican Peace President is expected to meet with church leaders, top political leaders and stakeholders in the country.