Pope Francis returned to Rome on Sunday alongside the heads of the Churches of England and Scotland, after a visit to South Sudan torn by violence and misery during which he called for "laying down arms". .
Throughout his 48-hour visit, the pope multiplied calls for peace in this predominantly Christian country of 12 million inhabitants, plagued from 2013 to 2018 by a civil war between supporters of the two enemy leaders Salva Kiir and Riek Machar which left 380,000 dead and millions internally displaced.
On the plane taking him back to Rome, the Pope gave his traditional press conference, alongside the heads of the Churches of England and Scotland, representatives of the two other Christian confessions of South Sudan with whom he carried out this " ecumenical pilgrimage of peace".
“My health is not the same as at the start of my pontificate, my knee is bothering me but I am going ahead slowly and we will see?” said the 86-year-old pope, who now uses a wheelchair because of his knee pain.
The pope confirmed that he would travel to Marseille, in the south of France, on September 23 and announced that a plan was being studied to go to Mongolia in stride, confirming information from the French newspaper La Croix . He also mentioned a trip to India in 2024.
For his part, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said he ended the visit with "a deep feeling of encouragement". "What we need now is serious change from the leadership."
"There must be an effort to fight corruption and smuggling to counter the huge accumulation of weapons. We will have to continue to work together, with the Vatican and with the troika" (United States, United Kingdom and Norway ), he added. "In two years there will be elections, we need serious progress by the end of 2023."
Sunday morning, for the last appointment of his visit to Juba, the pope called for "laying down the weapons of hatred and revenge", during an open-air mass in front of some 70,000 faithful.
Many of them had streamed through the night through the dusty roads of the city, dressed in traditional attire. Some wore a cross around their neck or an image of the pope.
Like many South Sudanese, James Agiu expects this visit to "bring changes to the country". "For many years we have been at war, but we need peace," the 24-year-old told AFP.
On Saturday, Francis called for restoring a "dignified life" to internally displaced people in this landlocked East African country, which in December numbered some 2.2 million, according to the UN, due to armed clashes and bad weather. .
As soon as he arrived, the pope had called on the political class to "leapfrog" for peace and castigated the scourge of corruption. The NGO Transparency International regularly ranks the country at the bottom of the pack in this area.
The UN and the international community regularly accuse South Sudanese leaders of maintaining a status quo, stoking violence, suppressing political freedoms and embezzling public funds. The personal armies of Salva Kiir and Riek Machar are also accused of war crimes.
Despite a peace agreement signed in 2018 in this country which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, the violence continues.
On Thursday, the day before the Pope's arrival, at least 21 people were killed in a cattle raid in the south of the country.
In 2019, Francis had received the two enemy brothers at the Vatican and knelt down to kiss their feet, begging them to make peace, a strong gesture which had not yet been followed by concrete progress.
Before Juba, François, who was making his 40th trip abroad since his election in 2013, had visited Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
05/02/2023 19:02:01 - On board the papal plane (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
