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Added on the 04/02/2023 18:44:53 - Copyright : Euronews EN
Pope Francis flew home Sunday with the leaders of the Anglican and Scottish churches after a joint trip to violence-plagued South Sudan, where he appealed at a final mass for people to lay down their "weapons of hatred". Large crowds of ecstatic worshippers had gathered in the capital Juba to see the 86-year-old pontiff, who made peace and reconciliation the theme of his three-day trip to the world's newest nation. For more on the pope's historic visit, FRANCE 24 is joined by Dr. Yvan Yenda Ilunga, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Salve Regina University.
Some 100,000 people attended mass at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, South Sudan on the final day of the pontiff's visit to the war-ravaged country.
Pope Francis boards the papal plane as he wraps up his visit to South Sudan, with peace and reconciliation the theme of his three-day trip to the world's newest nation. Francis is on the first papal visit to the largely Christian country since it achieved independence from mainly Muslim Sudan in 2011 and plunged into a civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people. IMAGES
Crowd of faithful is gathered to attend Pope Francis' ecumenical prayer in Juba, South Sudan, where the Pope is making an official visit, accompanied by the heads of the Churches of England and Scotland, representatives of the country's two other Christian denominations. From 2013 to 2018, South Sudan, which has a population of 12 million, 60% of whom are Christians, was in the grip of a bloody civil war that left 380,000 people dead. IMAGES
After two years of delay cause by the pontiff's troubled knee, Pope Francis finally makes his promised visit to South Sudan - the first papal visit to the country since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. His trip to the country raises hopes for a peace brokered by the Vatican - but finds a nation still divided and traumatised by a ethnic conflict.