Pope Francis visits South Sudan with a message of peace and reconciliation

Pope Francis arrived in South Sudan on Friday for the first time since the predominantly Christian nation gained independence from Muslim-majority Sudan in 2011.

The three-day visit comes after his stint in the Democratic Republic of Congo and aims to revive a stalled peace process in the young nation by advocating for tolerance and forgiveness.

The pope joined with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields, in the South Sudanese capital of Juba, in a shared Church effort for peace.

In 2013, a bloody civil war broke out in the country, killing 380,000 people and displacing four million people.

A peace deal was reached in June 2018, with opposing political groups signing a power-sharing agreement, but implementation has been delayed.

Fighting continues, including attacks this week that left 27 people dead.

The pope’s tour is intended to draw attention to what the Vatican sees as overlooked conflicts and to promote the influence of the Catholic Church in a region where its popularity is growing.