Pope Francis warned Saturday that South Sudan's future depends on how it treats its women, as he highlighted their horrific plight in a country where sexual violence is rampant, child brides are common and the maternal mortality rate is the highest in the world.
On his second and penultimate day in Africa, Francis called for women and girls to be respected, protected and honored during a meeting in the South Sudanese capital Juba with some of the 2 million people who have been forced by fighting and flooding to flee their homes.
The aim of the ecumenical visit is to encourage South Sudan's political leaders to implement a 2018 peace accord ending a civil war that erupted after the overwhelmingly Christian country gained independence from mostly Muslim Sudan in 2011. "Please, protect, respect, appreciate and honor every woman, every girl, young woman, mother and grandmother," he said. "Otherwise, there will be no future."
"It's hard to convey the level of trauma of South Sudanese women whose bodies are literally the war zone," commission chair Yasmin Sooka said late last year. Francis' visit, she added, would awaken "serenity and peace in our hearts that we may work for peace and justice in this country."
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