During the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Pope Francis called for peace and drew attention to conflicts in war-torn African countries, specifically addressing the ongoing conflict in Sudan. The Pope urged the Sudanese military and the paramilitary group RSF to cease hostilities, emphasizing the serious humanitarian situation that has emerged over the ten months of armed conflict. The war in Sudan has claimed at least 12,000 lives and forced 1.5 million people to flee to neighboring countries.
Pope Francis also mentioned other theatres of conflict, including Palestine, Ukraine, and Mozambique. He expressed concern about the violence, destruction of infrastructure, and insecurity in the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, where the Catholic mission of Our Lady of Africa in Mazeze was recently set on fire. The province has been gripped by an insurgency linked to the Islamic State group for nearly six years, resulting in thousands of lives lost and mass displacement.
The Pontiff urged the faithful to pray for peace to return to these troubled regions and emphasized the futility of war, calling it a defeat that brings only death and destruction. Pope Francis encouraged a collective dedication to peace and reiterated that war is always pointless and inconclusive, emphasizing the need for solutions to problems that do not involve violence.
