Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Prayer service, conference to promote peace in South Sudan, CongoRefugees from South Sudan unload food items from trucks Oct. 8 at a camp in Moyo, Uganda. (CNS photo/James Akena, Reuters)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' insistence that he preside at a prayer service for peace in South Sudan and Congo is a clear sign of his support and the support of the church, a missionary sister said.


Sister Yudith Pereira-Rico, associate executive director of Solidarity with South Sudan, said the religious orders organizing the prayer service Nov. 23 asked Pope Francis "to participate in some way and he said, 'No, I'm presiding.' So for us, it's a huge support and also for the people of South Sudan."

Pope Francis insisted on presiding at the Nov. 23 prayer service for peace in South Sudan and Congo.
Sister Pereira-Rico, a member of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, spoke at a Vatican news conference Nov. 16 to announce the prayer service as well as a roundtable discussion in January on building peace in the two suffering African nations.


The goal of both events "is to show that peace is possible and we can do it together," she said.


Solidarity with South Sudan is an international network of religious congregations that was formed to train primary school teachers, health care workers, pastoral agents and sustainable farmers from all ethnic groups in country with the hope they would learn tolerance and reconciliation along the way.

The goal of both events "is to show that peace is possible and we can do it together."
Also present at the news conference were: Franciscan Sister Sheila Kinsey, coordinator of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission of the international unions of women's and men's religious orders; Michel Roy, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis; and priests from Congo and South Sudan.


 

Sister Pereira-Rico said the prayer service and the roundtable discussion were a response to a request by Bishop Erkolano Lodu of Yei, president of Caritas South Sudan, to "please organize something for us. Tell the world what's happening here. People need to know the suffering of the people."


"For the people of South Sudan, we know that it is the biggest support they can get, the involvement of the church and Pope Francis," Sister Pereira-Rico said.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.
For so many of us, Roger Haight marked off a breathtakingly wide horizon in which we, agreeing with him or not, could fulfill our mission for God’s people.