Pope Francis Visits Congo And South Sudan From January 31 To February 5

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, Pope of the Vatican, will visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan from January 31 to February 5, 2023.

The Vatican said the trip was originally planned for last summer, but the visit was postponed shortly before due to health reasons the pope was suffering from, according to the Vatican News website.

The director of the Vatican's media department, Matteo Bruni, said in a statement that Pope Francis will visit Kinshasa from January 31 to February 3, 2023, and then he will go to Juba from February 3 to 5.

The Pope of the Vatican earlier expressed his conviction that there is no doubt that we are living in a third world war.

When receiving at the beginning of the week in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, members of the Federation of International Christian Voluntary Organizations (Focsiv), on the fiftieth anniversary of its founding, the Pope spoke of three needs for today's world, namely volunteering, peace and development.

According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis addressed his guests with a speech stressing at the outset that their union "provides a valuable service to the process of combating poverty and marginalization, defending human dignity, promoting human rights, and the growth of local communities and institutions, all of which is in line with the teachings of the Bible and the social doctrine of the Catholic Church," expressing "Gratitude for their efforts," and because they symbolize the Mother Church, which creates hope in the world amidst famines and wars.

The Pope also touched on the urgent need for a world of solidarity, where every person feels accepted, a world that we build together in the framework of respect for creation, and where every human being fulfills himself in the fullness of his dignity.