Cardinal Ameyu Ordains Three Priests in Juba and Urges Humility and Forgiveness

Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, archbishop of Juba, the capital of South Sudan, ordained three deacons to the priesthood on August 15, 2026: Nelson Swaka Gore, Joseph Mogga Loku and Zachariah Lodu Guda. At the ceremony in St. Theresa Cathedral, the cardinal called on the new priests to practice humility, obedience, forgiveness and service, and warned them against treating the priesthood as a privileged or social status.

In his homily, Cardinal Ameyu said the priesthood is a demanding vocation that requires close union with Christ, the Church and the bishop. "What you have accepted today is a very difficult task," he said, adding that ordination should not be seen as a rise in social rank. "This ministry is not a ministry that we think that, by being ordained today, we have reached an elite level," he said.

The priesthood is to be understood as a ministry of service to God's people, the cardinal said, urging the new priests to remain "united to Jesus, united to the Church, united to your bishop."

Obedience, humility and forgiveness as pillars

Cardinal Ameyu described obedience as an essential part of the life of the Church. "We in the Catholic Church recognize obedience. Obedience in love. Without obedience there is no Church," he said. Since his appointment as local ordinary of Juba in March 2020, the cardinal has repeatedly spoken of humility as the foundation of priestly life.

"Unless you are formed as humble human beings, we will not be able to become good priests in the future. We must know that humility must be the goal of our life in the seminary," he said. Without humility, he said, the mission of the Church is weakened. "Without humility there is no Church. Without humility there is no people of God," he said.

Cardinal Ameyu, who has also served as president of the Sudan/South Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference since January 2024, placed forgiveness at the center of priestly ministry and challenged the new priests to be ministers of reconciliation in communities marked by conflict and division. "If a priest cannot forgive, how did he come to the altar of Christ?" he asked.

Reconciliation and accompaniment in conflict

The cardinal told the new priests that the sacrament of forgiveness is central to their ministry and that they are called to help God's people experience the mercy they themselves have received from God. "Our service as priests or missionaries is service to this human being," he said, linking priestly ministry to the task of accompanying those who suffer and face conflict in South Sudan.

Cardinal Ameyu also called on the Catholic community to support its priests through prayer, encouragement and fraternal correction. "It is your duty to pray for them. They need your prayers. We need the priesthood. We need your prayers," he said. He asked the faithful to accompany the new priests throughout their ministry and to help them remain faithful to their vocation, beginning each day in prayer and acknowledging their dependence on Christ and their need for mercy and forgiveness. "All of us must humble ourselves every morning to pray and kneel before Jesus," he said.