Message of Solidarity with the Injured Bishop-Elect of Rumbek, His Family and the People of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek

This came to my notice early at about 1:00 am and since then I never slept till this morning as I stayed up praying and reaching out to people of goodwill to see how we could be able to rescue the life of Bishop-Elect Christian. We were extremely shocked and I'm extremely saddened, shocked, and humiliated by this act on the life of this innocent humble man of God; a missionary of zeal, a missionary who loves his people,

This attack is not an attack only on the personal life of the bishop-elect of Rumbek, but rather a direct attack on people of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek, it is a direct attack on the Mother Church in South Sudan; it is a direct attack on the Catholic Church as an institution and an attack on the Republic of South Sudan.

We therefore strongly condemn this act of malice and barbarism and ask all of us to hold on together during this difficult moment of a challenge as we uphold those values that hold Christians during troubles; among them love, solidarity, care, unity, forgiveness, and patience. At the same time, I also condemn this behavior; this is not a civilized way to responding towards anything; this is cowardice to go and attack an innocent person who has no bullet, no gun, no knife, no weapon at all to defend himself; yet you assault him with a gun; it is wrong in all its entirety.

In as much as we do not know those who have carried out this act, we leave that to God and we ask the beloved people of God in this country to choose to respect for life, to choose harmony, to choose the best way we can be able to live together.

As a church and as a diocese we are on our knees praying for the quick recovery of Msgr. Christian, the Bishop-Elect of Rumbek Diocese, we pray for his quick healing and strength; we pray that his family may be consoled and strengthen during this difficult moment. My word of courage goes to his family, his mum, dad, and his siblings, may they be strong. I know that this is not the news they would expect about their beloved son whom they have given freely to serve; I, therefore, ask them to accept courage because all will be well by God’s Grace.

I also want to assure the people of Msgr. Christian’s country, the people of Italy that what has happened was not a doing of the country, a doing of everybody but that particular individuals have caused this and that the justice of our Lord may prevail. I also want to call on the entire country to see this as an opportunity to reorganize ourselves as a nation to see how safe we can keep our people and take care of them as well as respond to those things that affect life in a gentle way and within rule of law and respect for human life.

May I ask the whole diocese of Tombura-Yambio to pray for Bishop-Elect of the Diocese of Rumbek for quick healing and also pray in a special way for the Christian Community and the people Rumbek, may God unite and strengthen them during this trying moment. And to all the Missionaries who are working in South Sudan and especially those who are working in our diocese of Tombura-Yambio, I want to assure you that we all love you and what has happened is not something we have to call an attack on all the Missionaries; the church here has been born and nurtured due to the sacrifices of many of your brothers and sisters and we thank you and them all.

We all love you, stay safe, feel loved and let us all work together to build God’s Kingdom here on earth as we put Christ at the center of our lives so that we can be able to rid our country from acts such as this. Let us stay together, all the clergy and religious together with all the people who work within the church institutions that we may hold on together.

As your Bishops, we will continue to forge our unity especially during this moment where the Lord’s kindness to us is being manifest as He has added more shepherds to our numbers so that we can prevail against evil by doing the good things by doing the right things. We pray through St. Daniel Comboni and through St. Josephine Bakhita that they may intercede to God for quick healing and relief for Bishop-Elect Msgr. Christian.

I acknowledge the support we have received following the news of the attack on Bishop-elect of Rumbek Msgr. Christian Carlassare. Several people have put their hands together right from the Diocese of Rumbek to our Secretariat of the Bishops’ Conference. The collaboration and sharing of ideas from Brother Bishops on what to do were tremendous.

In particular, I want to mention the Christian Community from the diocese of Tombura-Yambio who upon hearing the sad news acted swiftly. One of them is our sons, Honorable General Africano Mande who helped us immediately by chartering a flight that went to Rumbek to pick the bishop-elect and bring him to Juba so that he could be flown to Nairobi, Kenya for specialized treatment.

Even though there arrived later, a Red Cross plane with medical facilities took Msgr. Christian direct to Nairobi, I want to acknowledge this noble gesture by Honorable Africano Mande for acting so quickly. When we spoke and I was touched by the swiftness with which he, a government official, community leader, and an assistant commissioner for the National Revenue Authority of South Sudan acted. I thank him and many other people who actually acted in many ways to see that the Bishop-Elect was given a helping hand during his moment of great need. I ask God to bless all the people who have offered their materials, ideas, conducts, and whatever they've done to make sure that we took Msgr. Christian for proper medical care.

Thank you and God bless,

Barani Eduardo Hiiboro, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio