South Sudan at 14: Catholic Bishops Emphasize Significance of Independence, Urge Focus on Nation Building

“We are a people anointed by hope, strengthened by suffering and sent forth to heal our broken land together,” the Local Ordinary of CDTY since his Episcopal Consecration in June 2008 said.

In the statement, which he issued under the title, “Empowered by Grace, Equipped for Mission, United in Hope,” Bishop Hiiboro emphasizes the importance of upholding the fundamental values of truth, love, peaceful coexistence, and service.

“Today, let us not just wave flags but raise hearts full of courage, hands ready to serve, and voices that speak peace, truth, and love. Our future is not a dream, it is a task, and together we can accomplish it,” he says.

Meanwhile, in a video recording ACI Africa obtained ahead of the July 9 Independence Day, Bishop Hiiboro expresses his awareness of the challenges South Sudanese face and underscores the need to recognize the care of God for His people in the country.

For the 61-year-old South Sudanese Catholic Bishop, continually entrusting South Sudan to God helps citizens cultivate “the discipline to keep the image of God, to keep the dignity of everybody”; it inspires them “to work for peace, harmony, and to rebuild back the broken parts, the broken pieces of our country.”

Although “a lot of things have not gone well” since South Sudan gained independence in July 2011, he says, the nation “is already of age,” and its people “cannot continue to lament.”

“We cannot continue to cry,” Bishop Hiiboro says in the video recording, and urges his compatriots to “wake up seriously, strongly, courageously, and make the republic new again.”

South Sudan’s hard-won celebration of independence from Sudan lasted just over two years. The country plunged into civil war in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his then Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.

The political infighting brought to the light two factions of government forces, one loyal to Kiir and the other to Machar, in the violence that took place in Juba streets, South Sudan’s capital city.

The violence quickly spread across the world’s newest nation, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians by the start of 2014. The fighting continued as a brutal civil war that affected the entire East African nation.

In line with the September 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) was formed in February 2020.

Incidents of simmering tensions continue to resurface in  South Sudan amid efforts for a lasting solution to the political crisis with the latest being the Mach 2025 reported arrest of the first Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar.

Following the incident, President Kiir held a meeting with faith leaders including the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba Local Ordinary, Stephen Cardinal Ameyu Mulla, during which he re-affirmed his commitment to restoring peace.

In his message for Independence Day 2025, Bishop Alex Lodiong Sakor Eyobo of the Catholic Diocese of Yei urges the people of God in South Sudan to appreciate independence as God’s gift following their long quest for self-determination.

“We want to recognize the gift that God has given to us to be an independent nation and this is what we need to treasure,” says Bishop Lodiong.

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In the video recording, he notes that when citizens see independence as important and “treasure it more,” violent conflicts that have continued to plague the 14-year-old nation will “disappear.”

The South Sudanese Catholic Bishop urges his compatriots to reflect on the sacrifices made for the country’s independence and commit to nation building.

“Let us go back to our roots and see why we fought for 21 years. The reason was for us to be self-determined and to obtain a nation. God blessed this determination, and now we have a nation,” says the Local Ordinary of Yei Diocese since his Episcopal Consecration in May 2022.

He emphasizes the need for South Sudanese to work “towards building” the nation rather than “destroying it.”

On his part, Bishop Christian Carlassare of the country’s Catholic Diocese of Bentiu describes Independence Day 2025 as a feast realized not only “with pride for what has been achieved” but also with hope.

“Surely we celebrate it with hope in the Year of Hope,” Bishop Carlassare says in his video recording referring to the ongoing Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.

The Italian-born member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) highlights the significance of marking Independence Day when the Universal Church is observing the Jubilee Year of Hope, adding that hope keeps the people of God “really alive”.

Independence of South Sudan was a gift and “all gifts come from God”, says the Local Ordinary of Bentiu Diocese, who doubles as the Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek, where he started his Episcopal Ministry in March 2022.

In the video recording, he challenges South Sudanese to recognize the love of God, to focus on “changing the soul of their country” and the renewal of their “relationship with God and with one another.”

On his part, Bishop Mathew Remijio Adam of South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Wau has expressed hope that the 14^th Independence anniversary would usher in a new dawn of lasting peace and harmonious living among the people of God in the East African nation.

“I wish that this year is going to be a year full of blessings, and all the graces needed for the people of South Sudan to live in peace, and to live in harmony with one another,” Bishop Remijio says.

In the video recording, the South Sudanese MCCJ member says he hopes that Independence Day 2025 “will unite all of us, and we leave aside our differences, and all of us should feel as the daughters and sons of one nation, our Republic, the Republic of South Sudan.”