The newly Consecrated Catholic Bishop of South Sudan’s Torit Diocese has called on the people of God in the East-Central African nation to foster the spirit of pardon and appreciation of each other in view of realizing lasting peace in the country.
Speaking on Monday, January 16 during his Thanksgiving Holy Mass following his Episcopal Ordination, Bishop Emmanuel Bernardino Lowi Napeta said forgiving and acknowledging the worth of others is fulfilling what God desired for human beings.
“We should learn to forgive and appreciate one another. This is what God has told us to be doing as Christians to coexist peacefully,” Bishop Napeta said the days after he was consecrated Bishop.
He described the practice of forgiveness and the spirit of appreciating others as “very important” virtues that help “us live together as one people without problems”.
“If there are any mistakes made by somebody that we know and don’t know we settle down because sometimes they didn’t mean to do them,” the South Sudanese Catholic Bishop said during the event that was held at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral of Torit Diocese.
He underscored the need to reach out to each other with a helping hand, and added, “Life looks and becomes beautiful when we learn to bear with one another.”
The 49-year-old Catholic Bishop further called on the people of God in his Episcopal See to “preach messages of appreciation and thanks within communities.”
“I want all of us to go from here with the words of appreciation by thanking each other,” he said, and added, “It means a lot for us when we develop the attitude of appreciating and forgiving one another.”
“Sometimes we make mistakes that do not completely define who we are as the children of God,” Bishop Napeta said, and added, “I want all of us as children of God to congratulate, thank and forgive one another for what they have done for us.”
The newly ordained Bishop made a distinction between deliberate mistakes and those occasioned by the human weakness, unintentionally.
He advocated for patience “with one another as Christians especially when somebody does something wrong.”
Consecrated on January 15, Bishop Napeta has started his Episcopal Ministry as the fourth Local Ordinary of Torit Diocese, which has a population of 1,139,835 Catholics, according to 2020 statistics.