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Archbishop, Pope, and Moderator send video messages to South Sudan in place of postponed visit

04 July 2022

Lambeth Palace/Twitter

Archbishop Welby delivers his video message from Lambeth Palace

Archbishop Welby delivers his video message from Lambeth Palace

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has said that he is “deeply sorry” not to be travelling to South Sudan this week.

The ecumenical pilgrimage with Pope Francis and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly, the Rt Revd Dr Iain Greenshields, was announced in May (News, 30 May) but was later postponed because of the Pope’s mobility issues (News, 17 June). The Pope, who is 85, has recently been using a wheelchair because of sciatica, which causes him knee pain and makes standing and walking difficult.

In a video message released on Friday, Archbishop Welby said: “I am deeply sorry not to be making our planned pilgrimage of peace to South Sudan next week.” He prayed for the recovery of Pope Francis and that the ecumenical trip would be rescheduled “very soon”.

Remembering his last visit to South Sudan in 2014 (News, 7 February 2014), Archbishop Welby said: “Your country and your people have been in my heart and my daily prayers ever since. You are people I love — full of great vibrancy and powerful resilience.

“You are children of God, seen and chosen. Yet I see and know that you have suffered greatly and continue to suffer. I see the floods that endanger your homes; I see the famine that makes each day a struggle; and I see the violence that overshadows so much. Many of you cannot return to your homes. God sees and knows that, too.”

Last week, it was reported that three people had died from starvation in South Sudan after the World Food Programme announced that it had to stop food distribution there. Responding to the deaths, Christian Aid denounced UK international aid cuts and the “largely repackaged funding” announced by the G7 last week (News, 1 July).

Continuing his video message, Archbishop Welby asked the people of South Sudan to focus on what was to have been the theme of the church leaders’ visit. “Peace requires much more than not being at war. It must be created together, with your fellow leaders and even with your enemies. There will be challenges ahead, and I pray that through them your leaders would listen to you and to themselves and to God, so that when we visit we may pray with them for the healing of the nation.”

One such challenge, he said, was “to change the spirit of revenge into the spirit of reconciliation. God knows how hard that is.”

The Pope and Dr Greenshields also released video messages about the postponed trip. Pope Francis said: “The Lord knows the extent of my regret at being forced to postpone this much-desired and long-awaited visit. Let us not lose faith, but rather cherish the hope of meeting as soon as possible.”

Also on Friday, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, began a week-long visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan on behalf of the Pope “to show his closeness to the beloved peoples” there. On Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated mass with the Congolese community in Rome on the same day on which Cardinal Parolin presided over mass in Kinshasa in his place.

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