South Sudan Police Spokesperson Brigadier General Daniel Justin is appealing to the faithful of Juba Catholic Archdiocese to maintain peace and order and present their grievances to the Church.
Forces were dispatched at St Theresa’s Cathedral on Sunday after believers attacked and beat Fr Nickolas Kiri in his residence in Juba.
This happened after Monsignor Visvaldas Kulbokas reconfirmed Ameyu Martin Mulla as the new Archbishop of Juba, where a committee headed by Fr Nicholas Kiri consisting of some parish priests and priests in the archdiocese of Juba was formed for the installation of the Archbishop.
Fr Kiri says during Sunday’s morning mass, he announced a letter from Vatican about the re-appointment of Bishop Ameyu as the new Archbishop. But immediately after the mass, he was warned by four young men and a chief for announcing the letter.
‘I met four young people who looked at me very angrily and told me father! look! what you have announced, you really did it and this is really bad and we warn you. They were very young people. May be 25, 26, [years old] and so on. I listened to them and make not of what they have said and they went away, and I went away. Just after the mass immediately. The mass starts at seven and normally 9:30 we finish’, the father narrated.
Fr Kiri said before reaching his residence, a chief also approached and warned him to stay away from the matter, threatening that it will involve death.
‘Then before I proceeded further, there was a chief who greeted me consciously and say look, you are our boy, you are ours and we share language because we are the same and don’t enter into this case. Then he told me that this case will involve death. Before he left, [the chief] finally told him that they will not even fear the government. I got that message and noted it and proceeded. The chief angrily left but I just noted that, really that message [announcement of Vatican reconfirmation of the new Archbishop] was never received well, but I proceeded and came to my resident’, he further narrated.
He adds that as he was preparing to join another mass at 2:30, he saw an estimate of sixty young people into his residents, leading him from one corner to another.
‘I was just preparing to join another prayer at 3 PM when I saw from our gate, I would estimate a number of about sixty young people, opening the gate with force, and coming in a hurried manner, rushing towards the building. I saw from the window because it opens directly to the gate. I knew there was some trouble coming. Something was telling me close the room and stay within. Then I was also reasoning to myself that why should I close myself in? What did I do anything wrong to be afraid of someone? I just opened the door and when they saw me they rushed and shouted he’s here, he’s here, as a criminal. So they came leading me here and there and asked me to surrender the keys of the house and the car because they belong to us’, says father Kiri.
He says after serious blows on him and surrendering the car and the house keys to the young men after they ordered him to give them, they forced and took him to the Cathedral.
In a statement issued by faithful entitled ‘The looming installation of the new Archbishop of Juba’, it threatened that Bishop Ameyu will be installed under their dead bodies.
It accused him of having more than six wives.
Meanwhile Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro in a press conference says he was saddened by what happened to Nicola Kiri and that he has no objection to the appointment of Bishop Ameyu as the new Archbishop of Juba. He adds that he has no idea of the allegations against him.
‘I was saddened by the news of the incident that happened on Sunday on 8 March 2020 in St Theresa’s Cathedral Parish, Kator and some church personnel sustained some injuries, thanks be to God that no life was lost. I am unhappy as well to hear of violent threads and hostilities against the new Archbishop. I urge all the dioceses and priests, and Archdiocese of Juba, religious and faithful to refrain from violent activities and detest from violent to thread and hostilities. We should all work together towards unifying our people and we must avoid divisive reckless utterances and politics’, says Lukudu.
Police Spokesperson Brigadier General Daniel Justin says forces were deployed at the area to keep law and order.
He urges the church to keep peace and order and resolve their issues in a good manner.
‘For us, [police], if you have any crisis in the Church, we are not concern, but we want peace and order. The second day we were not sure of what will happen that’s why we kept our forces to be there to monitor the situation. We don’t want any problem or fight or something. This morning the situation is 100 percent calm. So we are expecting to withdraw our forces anytime from now’ say the police Spokesperson.
Last year, during the appointment of Bishop Ameyu as the new Archbishop of Juba by Pope Francis, some group of clergy and laity wrote a letter, rejecting his appointment. They claimed that the Bishop should know the local language of Juba.
‘The next Archbishop of Juba must be a visible sign of unity among all the faithful. This requires that, in addition to his mastery of English and Arabic languages, he must have ample knowledge of the local and the culture of indigenous tribes of Archdiocese of Juba’, part of the letter read.
But some people who spoke to CRN argued that a priest or an archbishop can serve God anywhere regardless of where he comes from.
‘To me that letter is Barbaric. I didn’t expect the clergies or priests who have been informed, gone to the formation house, know the hierarchy in the Church and they know how the Church works, to come out with such a letter and these are senior priests, they are doctors and professors who contributed in writing such a letter. A priest is a Shepherd and is entitled to go anywhere provided that he is taking care of the flocks’.
The Installation of Bishop Ameyu is expected to take place on 22 March 2020.