Pope Francis will host the divided leaders of South Sudan at the Vatican next week to help them solidify a faltering peace agreement ending the civil war in the world’s youngest country.
The meeting, which a Vatican statement yesterday called a “spiritual retreat”, could increase the chances of a visit by the pope to the South Sudanese capital, Juba. A Church source said the retreat would be held on April 10-11.
The leaders will include President Salva Kiir, First Vice President and former rebel leader Riek Machar and the other four vice presidents and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, told reporters.
“We know the pope wants to go there and we know that the situation has improved a little, especially after the agreement was signed, and also because of the good will of the people who are involved the situation,” Parolin said.
Parolin said the pope, who met Kiir at the Vatican on March 16, would attend at least part of the retreat. Last month, the Vatican said the pope had asked aides to resume planning for a visit that was scrapped in 2017 because of security concerns.
Oil-producing South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, descended into civil war in December 2013 when a dispute between Kiir and Machar who was vice president then sparked fighting, often along ethnic lines.