On Sunday, Pope Francisco (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) called the belligerent groups in Sudan to refrain from engaging in armed conflict, expressing sadness regarding the persistent violence in the African country for more than a month.
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“In encouraging the partial agreements reached so far, I renew my heartfelt plea for weapons to be set aside,” the pope told pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, Rome.
“I call on the international community to spare no effort so that dialogue prevails and that the suffering of the people can be alleviated,” he added.
The ongoing conflict between the military force of Sudan and the adversary paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has resulted in a disruption of societal governance.
On Saturday evening, the opposing groups in Sudan reached an accord to implement a seven-day cessation of hostilities due to take effect Monday evening.
Pope Francis, greetings pilgrims in St Peter’s square on May 21, calls for an end to the month-long conflict in Sudan, and appeals to the international community to work to foster negotiations between the sides in conflict
— Gerard O’Connell (@gerryorome)
May 21, 2023
“Please, let’s not get accustomed to war. And we should continue to support the war-torn people of Ukraine,” added the pope after delivering the Regina Caeli prayer.
According to the Vatican, the Pope has asked Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who holds the position of the head of the Italian bishops’ conference, to carry out a peacemaking mission aimed at resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
According to a Vatican diplomatic, Zuppi intends to conduct individual meetings with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
