Dubai – Masaader News
Pope Francis made unexpected movement by kneeling to kiss the feet of South Sudan leaders at the Vatican.
Kiir and Machar were once rivals, with Kiir accusing Machar — his former deputy — of staging a 2013 coup. Years of civil war followed. In 2018, they signed a peace agreement in Ethiopia, and they are now attempting to form a stable government together.
“To you three, who have signed a peace agreement,” the Pope said, “I ask you as a brother, remain in peace.”
Vatican News, the official media outlet of the Holy See, called the Pope’s gesture “surprising and moving,” one that “cannot be understood except in the climate of reciprocal forgiveness that characterized the two days of retreat.”