Pope Francis held a private meeting with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Friday, according to a spokesman of the Catholic Church.
Kiir is an occasional churchgoer at the Kator Cathedral in Juba, though last year he was reported to have skipped Mass after shutting down the country’s most popular Catholic radio station. The station later reopened conditionally.
South Sudanese bishops last year declared the civil war ‘evil’ and ‘immoral’ and the bishop of Juba has repeatedly slammed politicians for “continuous preaching to violence and war.” Some churchgoers held peace marches in Juba before the signing of a peace agreement in August.
The Vatican’s chief spokesman Father Federico declined to give details on the 15-minute conversation with the president, Reuters reported. “It was a private meeting,” he said. “The reason for this meeting, the intention of the pope, was obviously in service of the peace and reconciliation in the land.”
The meeting at Uganda’s State House soon after Francis arrived in the Ugandan capital Kampala on the second leg of his week-long Africa trip was arranged by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, said Lombardi.
Pope Francis will stay in Uganda until Sunday, when he is due to travel to the Central African Republic.
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