Pope Francis to visit DR Congo, South Sudan in July
The pope has often expressed his closeness to people of the two African countries that suffer violence and political instability
Pope Francis will be travelling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan in July, according to a Holy See Press Office statement.
The pope has accepted invitations from the relative heads of states and bishops, the Holy See Press Office announced on Thursday.
Pope Francis will visit Kinshasa and Goma in DRC from July 2 to 5, before travelling to Juba, in South Sudan, from July 5 to 7.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The pope has often expressed his closeness to the people of DRC, victims of violence, health issues, and political instability.
The country has 5.6 million displaced persons, most of whom reside in the eastern part of the country, in North and South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika provinces, bruised by atrocities during the long-entrenched rule of former president Joseph Kabila.
Pope Francis met with Félix Antoine Tshilombo Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in January 2020 and during their meeting, they discussed the ratification of the Framework Agreement between the Holy See and the DRC, signed in the Vatican on 20 May 2016.
DRC has the most vocal bishops' conference in Africa. Catholic leaders there have locked horns with the government many times, successfully bringing about change.
Recently, despite his constitutionally mandated term coming to an end in December 2016, President Joseph Kabila continued to cling on to power by postponing elections.
However, the Catholic Church with 42.8 percent of the country's 35 million population as followers, organized protest marches and referred the political impasse to international bodies, forcing Kabila to hold presidential elections in December 2018 and renounce a third term.
Several Catholics were killed, some in church squares, as security forces cracked down on the protesters.
While Kabila’s one time opponent Felix Tshisekedi officially won the presidency in 2019, the vote was mired in corruption and fraud, with bishops maintaining that Tshisekedi was declared the official winner because Kabila was holding the reins behind the scenes.
“Nearly all the country's problems come down to the collapse of the State… The Catholic Church has always stepped in to help alleviate the situation…Without the Church, the situation would be even more critical,” Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, a longtime opponent of political oppression in the DRC and president of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo once told La Croix.
The Congolese bishops continue to be very critical of the country's current political situation.
South Sudan
Pope Francis will be the first pope to travel to South Sudan.
He had earlier "expressed the wish to ascertain the conditions for a possible visit to South Sudan," and wanted to make the trip as "a sign of closeness to the population and of encouragement for the peace process."
South Sudan formally became independent from Sudan on July 9, 2011, following a protracted war of independence. More than half of the people in South Sudan are Christian, while Sudan is predominantly Muslim.
South Sudan enjoyed two years of peace but political rivalry soon erupted into open conflict in 2013 when President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, fired Riek Machar, from the Nuer ethnic group, from the vice presidency.
Tensions between political factions led to a civil war fought often along ethnic lines and about 400,000 people have since been killed, and more than a third of the country's 12 million people displaced.
The bloody conflict was often punctuated by multiple rounds of mediation that did not last.
In 2018, Kiir, a Catholic, and Machar, a Presbyterian, formed a unity government but there has been slow progress on implementing the country's main peace agreement that was signed that year.
In April 2019, Pope Francis invited South Sudan's leaders to the Vatican for a spiritual retreat. It was during that meeting that Pope Francis kissed the feet of the warring leaders and implored them to give peace a chance.
Pope Francis has been tireless in pushing for peace in the world’s newest nation and is closely following the developments in South Sudan.
The reorganization of power has been mostly cosmetic, and actual power remains concentrated around the presidency and a few security and military establishments.
Recently, uncertainty and violence have soared in the East African country of 13.78 million people.
Identity-related revenge attacks and elite proxy wars currently taking place in South Sudan are connected to political and military factions, social forces which are fighting for control with the government forces of President Kiir in the oil-rich country.