Speaking at an event on February 4 in the country's capital Juba as part of his three-day visit, the pontiff said women were the key to South Sudan's peaceful development.

 "Please, protect, respect, appreciate and honour every woman, every girl, young woman, mother and grandmother. Otherwise, there will be no future," the pope stated. 

The cleric disclosed that he was accompanied on his visit to South Sudan by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields as a pilgrim of peace.

Francis and the other Christian leaders met South Sudanese children displaced by conflict and heard of the hardships of their lives in camps. 

The papal called for the people to end the conflict in South Sudan and resume the peace process so that citizens of the country could return to living with dignity.

South Sudan became one of the youngest nations after it broke away from Sudan in 2011, but the country has been plunged into a civil war since 2013. 

Inter-ethnic fighting has continued to kill and displace many civilians despite a 2018 peace deal between the South Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition.