The Catholic Leader - 21 April 2019 - Issue 5548

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The Catholic Leader, April 21, 2019
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AT the end of a highly unusual
spiritual retreat for the politi-
cal leaders of warring factions,
Pope Francis knelt at the feet
of the leaders of South Sudan,
begging them to give peace a
chance and to be worthy “fa-
thers of the nation.”
“As a brother, I ask you to remain in
peace. I ask you from my heart, let’s go
forward. There will be many problems,
but do not be afraid,” he told the leaders,
speaking without a text at the end of the
meeting.
“You have begun a process, may it end
well.
“There will be disagreements among
you, but may they take place ‘in the office’
while, in front of your people, you hold
hands; in this way, you will be transformed
from simple citizens to fathers of the na-
tion.
“The purpose of this retreat is for us to
stand together before God and to discern
his will.”
He made the remarks on April 11,
closing the two-day retreat in the Domus
Sanctae Marthae, the guesthouse where he
lives.
The retreat participants included South
Suda ese President Salva Kiir and four of
the nation’s five designated vice presidents
– Riek Machar, James Wani Igga, Taban
Deng Gai and Rebecca Nyandeng De
Mabior.
Under the terms of a peace agreement
signed in September, the vice presidents
were to take office together May 12, shar-
ing power and ending the armed conflict
between clans and among communities.
The retreat was the idea of Anglican
Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury,
spiritual leader of the Anglican Com-
munion, who attended the final part of the
gathering. He and Pope Francis have been
supporting the peace efforts of the South
Sudan Council of Churches and, the Pope
said again, they hoped to visit South Su-
dan together when there was peace.
Pope Francis told the politicians and
members of the Council of Churches that
“peace” was the first word Jesus said to
his disciples after the resurrection.
“Peace is the first gift that the Lord
brought us, and the first commitment that
leaders of nations must pursue,” he said.
“Peace is the fundamental condition
for ensuring the rights of each individual
and the integral development of an entire
people.”
When South Sudan gained its independ-
ence from Sudan in 2011 after years of
war, the people were filled with hope, the
Pope Francis begs for peace at
retreat for South Sudan leaders
Peace plea: Pope Francis kisses the feet of South Sudan President Salva Kiir at the
conclusion of a two-day retreat for African nation’s political leaders. The Pope begged
the leaders to give peace a chance. At right is Vice President Riek Machar.
Photo: CNS
Pope said.
Too many of them have died or been
forced from their homes or face starvation
because of five years of civil war.
After “so much death, hunger, hurt and
tears,” the pope said, the retreat partici-
pants “have clearly heard the cry of the
poor and the needy; it rises up to heaven,
to the very heart of God our father, who
desires to grant them justice and peace.”
“Peace is possible,” the Pope told the
leaders.
They must tap into “a spirit that is noble,
upright, strong and courageous to build
peace through dialogue, negotiation and
forgiveness.”
As leaders of a people, he said, those
who govern will have to stand before
God and give an account of their actions,
especially what they did or didn’t do for
the poor and the marginalised.
Pope Francis asked the leaders to linger
a moment in the mood of the retreat and
sense that “we stand before the gaze of the
Lord, who is able to see the truth in us and
to lead us fully to that truth.”
The leaders, he said, should recognise
how God loves them, wants to forgive
them and called them to build a country at
peace.
CNS
CATHOLIC and Orthodox leaders
condemned the bulldozing of memorial
crosses at a site of communist-era mass
executions.
Media reports said at least 15 protesters
were arrested in early April when police
cordoned off an area of the Kuropaty For-
est, outside Minsk, and bulldozers moved
in to demolish about 70 5m-high crosses,
which were taken away in unmarked
trucks.
The crosses sat where tens of thousands
of execution victims were thrown in mass
graves, mostly between 1937 and 1941.
“I feel desperate about the removal
of these crosses,” Archbishop Tadeusz
Kondrusiewicz, chairman of the Belarusian
bishops’ conference, said.
“Perhaps some order is needed in this
place, and perhaps it was necessary to
move the crosses temporarily and then
replace them. We also do such things – but
not without telling people,” he said.
In an April 9 interview on his church’s
website, he said the action had insulted
Christians, and he urged people of all faiths
to help “avoid a social explosion”.
The nation’s Catholic bishops’ confer-
ence demanded “an urgent stop” to the de-
struction of the crosses in Kuropaty, which
they called one of the country’s “many
Golgothas” and a “holy place of
memory and prayer”.
The bishops accused the
authorities of showing
“indifference to the tragedy
of mass killings” by failing
consult religious representa-
tives.
“This demolition has taken
place in Lent, furthermore,
when Christians direct attention to
the cross of Christ, the symbol of salva-
tion and hope,” the statement said.
Belarus’ predominant Orthodox Church
urged a “mutually respectful dialogue,
regardless of political convictions.”
“Crosses are not just religious symbols,
but expressions of humanitarian values
accepted in society,” the church’s Synodal
Department for Society and Media Rela-
tions said.
“The cross should not serve as a pretext
for political ambitions by certain social
groups ... but at this mass burial site for
victims of Stalin’s repressions, they are not
political installations, but spiritual memori-
als to people who died under a regime
which fought God.”
Official figures show ap-
proximately 30,000 people,
including many Catholics,
were buried at Kuropaty af-
ter being shot by the Soviet
paramilitary police.
Independent histori-
ans put the figure closer to
250,000.
Crosses were placed at the site
after the lifting of Soviet restrictions
led to the unearthing of at least 500 mass
graves in 1988; more crosses were added
in July 2018 at the initiative of opponents
of President Oleksandr Lukashenka, who
has been elected five times since 1994 amid
claims of ballot-rigging.
In an April 5 statement, the Belarusian
Forestry Ministry said the crosses had been
“illegally installed” on territory controlled
by the State Forestry Fund, and the area
needed “beautification works”. CNS
Bulldozing of crosses at site of executions condemned
Trafficking a ‘crime
against humanity’,
Pope Francis says
Human trafficking is a “crime against humanity”, because it
denies the human dignity of the victim, seeing him or her only
as a piece of merchandise to be used to enrich or give pleasure to
another, Pope Francis said.
Human trafficking, “in its multiple forms, is a wound in the
humanity of those who endure it and those who commit it,” the
Pope said, addressing the closing session of a conference.
The Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Pro-
moting Integral Human Development organised the conference.
The office brought together more than 200 bishops, priests,
men and women religious, project coordinators, pastoral work-
ers, representatives of Catholic organisations and foundations
and trafficking experts from around the world to brainstorm and
co-ordinate efforts to stop trafficking.
“Trafficking,” the Pope said, was “an unjustifiable violation of
the victims’ freedom and dignity, which are integral dimensions
of the human person willed and created by God. This is why it
must be considered, without a doubt, a crime against humanity.”
Pope Francis praised women religious, in particular, but also
all Catholics working to stop human trafficking and assist the
victims.
Before offering his blessing to conference participants, he
prayed that God would “bless all the victims, console them, be
close to the many who suffer from being despised, humiliated,
commercialised.”
CNS