FeaturesA Papal Gesture Like No Other

A Papal Gesture Like No Other

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On April 11, 2019, the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis did what no other pontiff had done before in living memory. In a small room inside the Vatican, he sat with two African warlords, President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and the opposition leader Rieck Machar. Frail and ailing, the 83-year-old Pope rose from his desk, approached the leaders and knelt before them, kissing their shoes and saying at the same time, “Remember that with war, all is lost.” By far younger than the Pontiff and humbled, Kirr and Machar quickly got him to his feet. “I am asking you with my heart,” Pope Francis implored them, “stay in peace.”

Just last month, the religious leader was on a visit to two African countries. Naturally, South Sudan was his first port of call on the same peace mission he initiated three years ago. THEWILL considers the papal gesture worthy of emulation by religious leaders in Nigeria particularly and the African continent in general. Michael Jimoh reports…

It is something of a sacrilege in some African cultures for older people to go on their knees to their juniors. Except in rare circumstances, senior citizens in most parts of the continent do not defer to people they are older than. Instead, it is the other way round – for younger people to digweh, as the Urhobos would say, in the presence of elderly people, especially the male folk.

But Pope Francis did exactly the opposite three years ago when he knelt before two warring leaders of South Sudan to end the war in the newest country in the world. It had its desired effect. Shortly after that rare papal gesture, both leaders got to the table and talked things over to stop the needless war in the blighted African nation.

“Remember with war,” Pope Francis implored the leaders, “all is lost. I am asking you with my heart, stay in peace.”

A largely Christian country with a third of the populace Catholics, Pope Francis’s peace mission to South Sudan was not only to save those of the Catholic faith but the rest of the country that had been at war for years. So far, the war of dismemberment has claimed more than 400, 000 lives, left many destitute and displaced millions.

Like a concerned father watching over the wellbeing of those under his care, the Pontiff was again in South Sudan early February to consolidate on his peace mission. Riding on the strength of the papal peace mission in 2019, the two warring leaders signed a peace agreement in Ethiopia and then to the Vatican last September for what has been described as “an exceptional two-day ecumenical retreat inside the pope’s residence.”

The pope’s exceptional gesture in 2019 was showing results, apparently. It was the most delightful piece of news for a country that had been at war since 2013 because of mutual disagreement and resentment between Kirr and Machar.

At the Vatican peace meeting, Pope Francis had pointedly told the leaders that “there will be fights among you, but let these be inside the office.” According to observers at the meeting, the Pontiff had looked both of them in the eye and “urged them to respect their recent armistice and commit to forming a unity government,” adding that they “hold hands in front of the people.” With that gesture of friendship and amicableness, Kiir and Machar can “become fathers of the nation.”

Of course, South Sudan had always been one united country until the fallout between the president and his vice, throwing the country into deep despair of war. “I urge you, then, to seek what unites you, beginning with the fact that you belong to one and the same people, and to overcome all that divides you,” Pope Francis counseled them, insisting that “people are wearied, exhausted by past conflicts: Remember that with war, all is lost!”

Tagged ecumenical mission of peace, two religious leaders, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Iain Greenshields, the Scottish church leader accompanied the Pontiff to the East African nation. In his message which the pope admitted “may appear blunt and direct,” he told the leaders to “leave the time of war behind and let a time of peace dawn!”

Since committing to peace in 2018 and after kissing their feet a year later, Pope Francis seemed not much satisfied with progress made so far in the direction of peace. “It is time to move from words to deeds. It is time to turn the page: It is the time for commitment to an urgent and much-needed transformation. The process of peace and reconciliation requires a new start.”

Speaking directly like an avuncular would to recalcitrant children, Pope Francis said inter alia: “Dear president and vice presidents, in the name of God, of the God to whom we prayed together in Rome, of the God who is gentle and humble in heart (cf. Mt 11:29), the God in whom so many people of this beloved country believe, now is the time to say “No more of this,” without “ifs” or “buts.” No more bloodshed, no more conflicts, no more violence and mutual recriminations about who is responsible for it, no more leaving your people a thirst for peace. No more destruction: It is time to build! Leave the time of war behind and let a time of peace dawn!

As it happened in some newly independent African countries in the sixties and seventies, South Sudan descended into war because “the political leaders that now govern this country of 13 million people were once warlords and still have the mentality of warlords. They attend only to their own group’s interests and have difficulty in sharing power.”

In the Pope’s estimation, the South Sudanese people “need fathers, not overlords. They need steps to development, not constant collapses.”

If they do maintain that peace, he told them, the “sons and daughters” of this land, “and history itself, will remember you if you work for the benefit of the people that you have been called to serve. Future generations will either venerate your names or cancel their memory, based on what you now do. History will leave behind the enemies of peace and bring renown to those who are true peacemakers.”

Excited to no end about the papal visit, President Kiir gave Pope Francis, Shelby and Greenshields the full treat accorded visiting dignitaries. He personally received them at the airport, mounted a guard of honour, complete with the national anthem of South Sudan and the Vatican and the drive to the Presidential Palace in Juba the capital. KIir described the visit as “a historic milestone,” also reminding the Pope that his “gesture of humility did not go in vain” in 2019.

Responding, Pope Francis declared that along with Welby, Greenshields and the accompanying entourage of high-profile church fathers from England and Scotland “we undertook this ecumenical pilgrimage of peace, after hearing the plea of an entire people that, with great dignity, weeps for the violence it endures.”

Continuing, Pope Francis said: “I have come here as a pilgrim of reconciliation, in the hope of accompanying you on your journey of peace. It is a circuitous journey, yet one that can no longer be postponed.” Then, the pope, drawing attention to the presence of the archbishop and the moderator, whom he referred to as “two brothers,” said, “We present ourselves to you and to these people in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.”

The ecumenical pilgrimage of peace, he went on, “is something rare” that “represents a change of direction, an opportunity for South Sudan to resume sailing in calm waters, taking up dialogue, without duplicity and opportunism.” It should also be “an occasion to revive hope” which “each citizen understands that the time has come to stop being carried along by the tainted waters of hatred, tribalism, regionalism and ethnic differences. It is time to sail together towards the future!”

On his part, Archbishop Welby made clear the visit of the three religious leaders. They had come “to encourage the church to remember its remarkable work historically in building peace and bringing people together. We come to listen to the young people, and to tell leaders about their hopes for peace and opportunity. We come to honor the women who have known such terrible suffering and yet have been the sign of the resurrection life. People in places near and far are becoming tired that more has not changed. That fatigue is mirrored in the faces of the people of South Sudan and in the words of many civil society organizations who faithfully, boldly, try to represent them in the face of strong opposition. When I remember the commitments made back in 2019, I am saddened that this is what I see and hear.”

Next to speak was the leader of the Scottish Church. “We need leaders and churches that really work for peace,” he said.

Pope Francis added that his brutal frankness was because of “the affection and concern with which I follow the life of your country, together with my brothers with whom I have come here as a pilgrim of peace.”

About the Author

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Michael Jimoh is a Nigerian journalist with many years experience in print media. He is currently a Special Correspondent with THEWILL.

Michael Jimoh, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Michael Jimoh is a Nigerian journalist with many years experience in print media. He is currently a Special Correspondent with THEWILL.

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