Bishop decries renewed violence in South Sudan, calls for peace (Vatican News)

The Italian missionary bishop of Bentiu, South Sudan, denounced renewed violence there, including airstrikes on civilians, five years after the conclusion of a civil war.

Bishop Christian Carlassare, MCCI, said that “we must speak openly against the proliferation of weapons, the reckless recruitment of youth [into armies], and all forms of violence and injustice.” At a “very delicate moment” in national life, “we must welcome not the peace the world proposes, brandished by the powerful through military force, but the peace offered as a gift in the Gospel.”

The East African nation of 12.7 million (map) is 61% Christian (39% Catholic), 32% ethnic religionist, and 6% Muslim. It gained independence from largely Muslim Sudan in 2011; Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in February 2023.