September 5, 2008
Meskel Square's new patron saint
Sudan's Catholics turn to Darfur saintBy Andrew Heavens and Skye Wheeler
KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) - In a dusty church in Khartoum's Jeberona camp for displaced persons, the congregation claps and sings beneath a portrait of a smiling woman who has become a focus of hope for a divided country.
Josephine Bakhita, a former slave who died in 1947, has risen from obscurity to become the first saint from Darfur in western Sudan, a region convulsed by war for the past five years.
"I would say she was a gift from God ... an offer from God," said Bishop Daniel Adwok, the Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Khartoum. "She has come on time for the conflict here in Sudan."
Posted by aheavens at September 5, 2008 1:16 PM