FRANCISCAN Father Mario Debattista said there was a “real buzz” around his parish in Juba, South Sudan, for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit this week.
“There’s really a sense of excitement,” he said.
Fr Debattista had been interviewed by a local TV news station just this week about the upcoming papal visit.
He said all the priests and religious from around the country, and just about everyone who could find transportation, were cramming into Juba to see the pope for his first visit to the country on Friday afternoon local time.
Fr Debattista said he would get the chance to see Pope Francis at a couple events through the week, including a talk to the local clergy and at the Sunday Mass.
He said he had been lucky to arrive in South Sudan just in time for the visit.
Fr Debattista was parish priest in Kedron before he left for the mission in Juba last month.
He said he had been settling in well to his parish.
He ministered for three years from 2013 to 2016 in the same parish before civil war-related tensions flared up and he was forced to leave.
The pope’s visit was important, he said, because it showed “the world hasn’t forgotten South Sudan”.
It helped affirmed the progress that had been made towards peace, he said.
He said it also placed a spotlight on the country and hoped some real progress could be made towards greater unity.
Pope Francis’ visit was ecumenical and he was joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr Iain Greenshields.
“After centuries of division, leaders of three different parts of the Church are coming together in an unprecedented way, and in so doing are seeking to be part of answering another prayer – Jesus’ prayer – that his followers might be one,” Archbishop Welby said.
The leaders arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday.
The three Church leaders would be visiting South Sudan from February 3 to February 5.
