The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace expressed “continued solidarity and fraternal unity” with the Church in South Sudan.
“Be assured of our steadfast prayers for the South Sudanese people at this time of severe economic hardship, deadly violence, environmental and food insecurity, and contestation surrounding the country’s Transitional Constitution framework,” Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, the Maronite bishop of Los Angeles, wrote in a July 28 letter to Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, president of the Integral Human Development Commission
Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
“We mourn with the South Sudanese people, afflicted by violence between local communities, as well as conflict between the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces and opposition groups,” Bishop Zaidan added. “We implore God, as ever, to bring justice, healing, and lasting peace to your land!”