Pope announces visit to South
Sudan
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| Pope Francis in St Peter's Square during the Angelus prayer (ANSA) |
Pope Francis, following the recitation of the Angelus
announces a visit to the African nation of South Sudan. He also offers prayers
for Bolivia and recalls a new Saint and Blessed for the Church.
Pope Francis during his Angelus on Sunday invited the
faithful to pray for the African nation of South Sudan which he said, he wished
to visit next year. The Pope had already expressed this wish during an audience
with the President of the Republic of South Sudan, Salva Kiir.
South Sudan
Speaking to the faithful in St Peter’s Square, the Pope said
he wished to renew his invitation “to all those involved in the national
political process to seek what unites and to overcome what divides, in a spirit
of true brotherhood.” He also recalled the spiritual retreat for the
Authorities of the country, which took place in the Vatican last April.
The Pontiff said “the South Sudanese people have suffered
too much in recent years and look forward with great hope to a better future,
especially the definitive end of conflicts and lasting peace. I therefore urge
those responsible to continue, tirelessly, with their commitment to an
inclusive dialogue in the search for consensus for the good of the nation.” The
Pope expressed the hope that the international community would not neglect to
accompany South Sudan on the path to national reconciliation.
Following its independence in 2011, Southern Sudan erupted
into civil war in 2013. The President Salva Kiir accused his Vice-President
Rieck Machar of orchestrating a coup against him. Up to 400,000 people have
been killed and more than 4 million displaced in the conflict.
Prayers for Bolivia
After the recitation of the Hail Mary, Pope Francis also
invited people to pray for Bolivia, near he said, to his homeland.
The South American country has been engulfed in political
unrest following disputed results of an October 20 election.
A number of have died as a result of the violence and more
than 300 have been injured.
The Pope called on all Bolivians, particularly political and
social actors, “to wait constructively and unconditionally, in a climate of
peace and serenity, for the results of the process of revising the elections,
which is currently under way. In peace.”
A new Saint and Blessed
Turning his attention to Granada in Spain, Pope Francis
invited the faithful to applaud Blessed Maria Emilia Riquelme y Zayas, founder
of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and of Mary Immaculate, who
was proclaimed Blessed on Saturday. He also recalled a Mass of thanksgiving
being celebrated on Sunday for the equipollent canonization of St. Bartholomew
Fernandes of the Martyrs. The new Blessed, he said was exemplary in the fervor
of Eucharistic adoration and generous in the service of the neediest, while the
new Saint was a great evangelizer and pastor of his people.
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