Arms of hatred plea

JUBA: Pope Francis appealed yesterday to the people of South Sudan to lay down their “weapons of hatred” at an open-air mass on the final day of his pilgrimage to a country blighted by violence and poverty.

Large crowds of ecstatic worshippers streamed into the John Garang Mausoleum in the capital Juba to see the 86-year-old pontiff, who has made peace and reconciliation the theme of his three-day trip to the world’s newest nation. “Lay down the weapons of hatred and revenge overcome the dislikes that have become chronic and risk pitting tribes and ethnic groups against one another,” Francis said.