Rome, Italy
AP
Pope Francis urged the people and leaders of Congo and South Sudan on Saturday to “turn a page” and forge new paths of reconciliation, peace and development.
Francis issued a video message on the day he had planned to begin a weeklong pilgrimage to the two African countries. He canceled the scheduled trip last month because of knee pain that makes walking and standing difficult.
Pope Francis delivers his speech during a Mass on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, on Wednesday, 29th June. PICTURE: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino/File photo.
In the message, Francis said he was “greatly disappointed” to not be able to travel and promised to visit “as soon as possible.”
He urged the people of both countries not to allow themselves to be robbed of hope despite the violence, political instability, exploitation and poverty that he said had pained them for so long.
MUSK MEETS POPE, USES TWITTER TO ANNOUNCE THE AUDIENCE
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose $US44 billion bid to buy Twitter remains in limbo, used the social media platform to announce he had met with Pope Francis.
“Honored to meet @Pontifex yesterday,” Musk tweeted of the Friday afternoon audience, alongside a photo showing Musk, Francis and four of Musk’s teenage children.
The Vatican didn’t announce the audience or provide any information about what was discussed. Musk’s tweet followed one of a street scene in Venice, suggesting he might have had other stops on his tour.
Francis frequently meets with high-profile figures in strictly private audiences that are held in a reception room of the Vatican hotel where he lives. A common talking point he uses when meeting with corporate CEOs is to appeal for them to use wealth and technology to help the poorest while caring for God’s creation.
On 21st June, Twitter’s board recommended shareholders approve Musk’s proposed purchase, though shares of Twitter remain far below his offering price, signaling considerable doubt that the sale will actually happen.
– AP
“You have a great mission, all of you, beginning with your political leaders: It is that of turning a page in order to blaze new trails, new paths of reconciliation and forgiveness, of serene coexistence and of development,” Francis said.
He said political leaders owed the pursuit of such goals to young people who dream of peace “and deserve to see those dreams come true”
“For their sake, above all, it is necessary to lay down arms, to overcome all resentment, and to write new pages of fraternity,” the Pope said.
He was joined in issuing separate video messages by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, Right Rev Dr. Iain Greenshields, who were supposed to have accompanied Francis on the South Sudan leg of the trip. In their messages, they expressed disappointment that the visit had to be postponed but urged South Sudanese to nevertheless keep working for peace.
“Peace requires much more than not being at war. It must be created together, with your fellow leaders and even with your enemies,” Welby said in his message. Greenshields urged the South Sudanese to “give expression to Jesus’ words that ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God.’”
While Francis was unable to travel, he is due to celebrate a special Mass at St Peter’s on Sunday for Rome’s Congolese community. He sent his number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to visit both Congo and South Sudan on the days he was supposed to have been there.
The Catholic Church has always played a role in Congo, especially in the establishment of democracy and advocacy for human rights. The church deployed about 40,000 electoral observers in the 2019 election that brought Felix Tshisekedi to the presidency. Tshisekedi, an opposition figure, defeated then President Joseph Kabila’s chosen candidate in what was Congo’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.
There were high hopes for peace and stability once South Sudan gained its long-fought independence from Sudan. But it slid into ethnic violence in December, 2013. A 2018 peace deal that binds President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar, in a unity government encourages authorities to hold elections before February, 2023.
