A missionary in Sudan has praised Christian leaders who are keeping the faith alive in violent areas where priests have been forced to flee.
Father Jorge Naranjo told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that the capital Khartoum, once home to 23 parishes, now has only three priests serving millions of people:
“The pastoral vacuum has given the catechists a central role, it is they who keep the Faith alive through Sunday liturgies of the Word. They are the true pillars of the Church here.”
He says they are sustaining hope as war continues to devastate the country.
The Spanish missionary who is based in Port Sudan, was part of a 10-day diplomatic visit to the area by the Apostolic Nuncio to South Sudan, Archbishop Séamus Patrick Horgan.
They visited the regions most badly affected by the current civil war to share a message of solidarity from Pope Leo.
Fr Naranjo said the nuncio celebrated Mass in several parishes in the outlying areas of Khartoum, where a large part of the population originally from the centre of the capital have relocated. He said the centre of the city is now “devastated and empty”.
The Sudanese government helped facilitate the visit along damaged roads and past military checkpoints.
The archbishop visited Christian communities in Shendi, Omdurman and Atbara, a city on the banks of the Nile, to where Archbishop Michael Didi of Khartoum temporarily relocated when the war began in 2023.
In Port Sudan, where the nuncio ended his mission, Archbishop Horgan met with politicians such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Religious Affairs and the Director of Intelligence.
Besides thanking the government for its role in the evacuation of the Salesian sisters who were stranded in the Al-Shajara neighbourhood of Khartoum for months, the Vatican diplomat stressed the importance of respecting the rights of the country’s Christian minority.
Fr Naranjo said: “The nuncio’s visit carried a word of encouragement from the Pope to the Sudanese people and gave hope to the community in the midst of this conflict.”