Bishop discusses Holy Week piety, poverty in South Sudan
April 01, 2024
» Continue to this story on Vatican News
CWN Editor's Note: In an interview with Vatican News, Bishop Christian Carlassare of Rumbek, South Sudan, discussed the nation’s poverty, as well as local Holy Week customs.
“South Sudan is not poor because it lacks wealth, but because it lacks peace,” he said. What he is needed, he added, is not dependence on oil revenue—rendered tenuous because of damage to a pipeline in neighboring Sudan—but “entrepreneurship and the construction of an economy that is sustainable, starting from small economic activities: from agriculture, farming, fishing.”
In 2021, the prelate, a Comboni missionary from Italy, was attacked and shot in both legs shortly after he was named a bishop. Last month, South Sudan’s high court overturned the conviction of a priest in connection with the attack.
The nation of 12.1 million (map) is 61% Christian (38% Catholic), 31% ethnic religionist, and 7% Muslim. It gained independence from largely Muslim Sudan in 2011.
The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
For all current news, visit our News home page.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
