Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland plan to visit South Sudan in February 2023 to try and move the nation towards peace.
The three church leaders will meet church and civil groups. The visit follows a retreat held at the Vatican in 2019, when South Sudanese political leaders were urged to end a civil war that has cost more than 400,000 lives.
Churches are powerful authorities in South Sudan, where many people are Christian (estimates of 60%-80% are highly contested). When South Sudanese political leaders visited the Vatican in 2019, the pope surprised people by kissing the feet of President Salva Kiir and opposition leader (and former vice president) Riek Machar, as the pontiff urged them towards peace.
