Bishop Kussala of South Sudan says Synod must focus on "human person"

(Vatican Radio) Among the bishops attending the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization is one representing the world’s newest country. Bishop Edward Hilboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio told Vatican Radio he believes South Sudan’s independence from Sudan was a “gift from Christ himself.”

He said the people of his country, among the poorest in the world, need to let Christ’s message build their new nation.

“It is He whom we need to heed and to experience and to use his message to build a new nation,” he said.

One area of critical importance is human dignity.

“What, in fact, I would bring into this Synod is very much the concept of the human person,” Bishop Kussala said. “In reality, what we know is already happening in many countries, that life is not protected. Now that we are a new-born nation, all we need to do is to bring the Gospel of Life, that our laws, our system, our policies … have to go around the human person to protect it.”

During his intervention at the Synod, Bishop Kussala said he will also bring up his concerns about the Church and mass media.

“I know the communion of the Holy Spirit is itself a communication, I will be underlying the importance of communication, that the Church and all of us need to go down into the world of communication,” he explained.

Listen to the full interview by Fr. Moses Hamungole with Bishop Kussala: