On April 11, 2019, Pope Francis broke a stalemate in stalled peace talks by breaking protocol and throwing himself on his knees and kissing the feet of the negotiators, begging them to stay and make peace. He plans to travel to South Sudan in July 2022 to pursue peace, 3 years after this momentous incident.
Listen to Andrea Bartoli tell the story to Peter Coleman on this podcast episode:
Conversations from the Leading Edge
Ep 59 - Andrea Bartoli on religious third parties in international conflict
In this episode, we explore the work of the Community of Sant'Egidio, a religious group connected to the catholic church that has been an important stakeholder in peace processes around the world. Andrea Bartoli, an international conflict resolution expert for over three decades and president of the Community of Sant'Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue, tells us more about Sant'Egidio's work.
In this episode, Bartoli talks about how the Community started, its values and challenges and he presents its more recent intervention, in South Sudan, a country that has been struggling to find its ways towards sustainable peace.