The visit of Pope Francis and other church leaders was a strong statement is a strong statement to the people of South Sudan that Christians worldwide stand with them in their struggles against injustice and violence.
I am ministering in South Sudan, a country in turmoil and conflict. This reflection shares how my community and colleagues and I try to keep hope alive in circumstances of utter helplessness and vulnerability.
Jesus spent his childhood in an era marked by violence, imprisonment, and exile. His childhood was not too different from what we experience today. And in the rubble-filled manger of Nicaragua, Jesus continues to be born.
How has this experience in Congo transformed me? My first response is silence, a silence full of lives, names, stories; a silence that is a stubborn hope that does not allow death and war to win in the heart.
While the war in Ukraine is still going on, it is important to stay alive, not to succumb to the temptation of an easy and false peace. To remain human, we need to be open to the pain of others and our own.