Pope declares the sale of weapons the ‘biggest plague in the world’
- The Pope had just spent three days in South Sudan with other Christian leaders
- He was on a flight home to Rome alongside Archbishop of Canterbury Welby
Pope Francis has declared the sale of weapons to be the ‘biggest plague in the world’.
Francis was speaking to reporters on a flight home to Rome from South Sudan alongside Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Right Reverend Iain Greenshields, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
The visit was part of an unusual ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ in Africa by Christian religious leaders to nudge forward the country’s recovery from civil war.
The Pope said on Sunday: ‘Violence is an everyday theme. We have just seen it in South Sudan. It is painful to see how violence is provoked.
‘One of the issues is the sale of weapons. The sale of arms: I think this is the biggest plagues in the world.’ Said he had been told that if all sales of weapons stopped for a year, world hunger could come to an end.
Pope Francis has declared the sale of weapons to be the ‘biggest plague in the world’
Francis (centre) was speaking to reporters on a flight home to Rome from South Sudan alongside Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (right) and Right Reverend Iain Greenshields (left), the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
‘At the top today is the selling of arms. And not only among the great powers.
‘Even to these poor people they sow war with them. It’s cruel. They tell them “Go to war!” and they give them weapons. Because behind it there are economic interests to exploit the land, the minerals, the wealth.
‘This is to destroy: destroying creation, destroying the person, destroying society.’
During the three-day visit, Francis, Welby and Greenshields sought to draw attention to the plight of South Sudan’s most vulnerable people, the women and children who have borne the brunt of displacement and make up the majority of people living in temporary camps.
They raised in particular the plight of women in a country where sexual violence is rampant, child brides are common and the maternal mortality rate is the highest in the world.
The Pope continued as he spoke onboard the plane: ‘I don’t know if it happens in South Sudan but it does happen in some countries: young boys are recruited to be part of the militia and fight with other young boys.
‘To sum up, I think the biggest problem is the eagerness to take that country’s wealth – coltan, lithium, these sorts of things – and through war, for which they sell weapons, they also exploit children.
‘The whole war is at war and self-destruction – we must stop in time!’
On the last day of his African pilgrimage, Francis begged South Sudanese people to lay down their weapons and forgive one another. Pictured shaking hands with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit
On the last day of his African pilgrimage, Francis begged South Sudanese people to lay down their weapons and forgive one another, presiding over Mass at the country’s monument to independence hero John Garang before an estimated 100,000 people, including the country’s political leadership.
‘Even if our hearts bleed for the wrongs we have suffered, let us refuse, once and for all, to repay evil with evil,’ Francis said. ‘Let us accept one another and love one another with sincerity and generosity, as God loves us.’
His message aimed to revive hopes in the world’s youngest country, which gained independence from the majority Muslim Sudan in 2011 but has been beset by civil war and conflict.
President Salva Kiir, his longtime rival Riek Machar and other opposition groups signed a peace agreement in 2018, but the deal’s provisions, including the formation of a national unified army, remain largely unimplemented and fighting has continued to flare.
‘We have suffered a lot,’ said Natalima Andrea, a 66-year-old mother of seven who wiped a tear from her eye as she waited for Francis’ Mass to begin. ‘We need a permanent peace now and I hope these prayers would yield to lasting peace.’
The Vatican said more than 100,000 people attended the service, filling the field of the Garang Mausoleum and surrounding roads.
In a bid to spur the process along, Francis was joined on the novel ecumenical peace mission by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields. The aim of the Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian leaders was to push Kiir and Machar to recommit themselves to the 2018 deal.
Welby and Greenshields joined Francis on the altar at Mass on Sunday and were to accompany him on the flight back to Rome.
The three also aimed to put a global spotlight on the plight of the country, oil-rich and yet one of the world’s poorest, where humanitarian needs are soaring for the 2 million people who have been displaced by continued clashes and years of above-average flooding.
Watchdogs’ allegations of corruption are also widespread; some South Sudanese upon the pope’s arrival noted that his modest vehicle was overshadowed by local officials’ luxury ones.
Source: Read Full Article
