Strive to Spearhead Justice, Peace in South Sudan: Catholic Bishop to New Cardinal

In his message, the 59-year-old South Sudanese Catholic Bishop acknowledges with appreciation the Episcopal ministry of his agemate at the helm of South Sudan’s only Metropolitan See and expresses his spiritual solidarity with him. 

Bishop Hiiboro tells the new South Sudanese Cardinal, “While we admire your contributions to the Catholic Church in South Sudan and in the Archdiocese of Juba, I would like to offer my heartfelt prayers for you.”

Bishop Hiiboro, who has been at the helm of CDTY since his Episcopal Ordination in June 2008 further says, “I pray for you in your new role for God’s empowering love, wisdom, and unity to surround you as you serve communities and deal with the challenges that the Church in South Sudan has to address.”

The first-ever Cardinal in South Sudan, the world’s newest country that gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011, Cardinal Mulla is the second South Sudanese Cardinal, after the 82-year-old Gabriel Cardinal Zubeir Wako was elevated to the rank in October 2003 while serving as Archbishop of Sudan’s Khartoum Archdiocese. 

Other Cardinals from Africa that Pope Francis created during the September 30 Consistory included Protase Cardinal Rugambwa, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Tabora in Tanzania, and Stephen Cardinal Brislin, the Local Ordinary of South Africa’s Cape Town Archdiocese.

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Kerbino Kuel Deng is a South Sudanese journalist who is passionate about Church communication. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.