BBC is covering the visit of Pope Francis to ths South Sudan, which continues to have an ongoing civil war after their long fight for independence.
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| BBC:A banner marking the 300km walk was unveiled to welcome the pilgrims |
A group of about 60 Catholic pilgrims are recovering after spending nine days trekking through war-torn South Sudan to see Pope Francis in the capital, Juba....
One pilgrim, who was shedding tears as she arrived, hinted at the trauma the years of fighting have brought to this country. "When you have smelled and seen death and hopelessness, then you will search for peace with all the might that you have," said the woman, who did not want to give her name. "I have lost enough, but along the way I saw love and we all spoke one language - that of peace. I really pray that even after the Pope leaves, we will still be like that," she continued. "He is a prophet and whatever he prays in the next few days, while on our soil, will come to pass. Things will be different. We are going to be one people."...Pope Francis is spending three days in the country and will hold a Mass on Sunday.
In a historic first, he travelled with two other Christian leaders - Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland Rev Iain Greenshields.
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Many years ago, in 1980, I worked with a physician from the South Sudan.
He had fled to a refugee camp to escape the fighting, and the Seventh Day Adventists rescued him and arranged for him to study abroad. He became a physician and hoped to help his people, but the war there made that too dangerous, so he was working with me in a private clinic in Liberia for awhile until he found a job at a nearby Lutheran hospital.
Alas, I lost contact with him because I had to leave that country, and shortly after that, there was a coup that resulted in chaos and civil war for years.
The story of how charities try to rescue some of the refugees to resettle and get an education in the USA is told in this film:
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