Tentative plans for Pope Francis to visit South Sudan later this year have been cancelled due to security reasons.
A Vatican spokesman has confirmed reports that the trip – which would have been conducted with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby – will not go ahead this year.
Earlier this year, the Pope said the trip – proposed when Christian leaders from South Sudan representing the Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches issued an invitation for the two denominational leaders to visit the war-torn country during a visit to the Vatican late last year – was being looked at, but that it would depend on how dangerous the situation was assessed to be.
A civil war has wracked South Sudan since 2013, breaking out only a couple of years after the fledgling nation declared independence from Sudan. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the conflict. Earlier this year, famine was declared in the country’s north in what aid agencies have called a “man-made” crisis.
The trip is apparently being considered for a later date.
