Francis is making the Vatican's first-ever visit to the world's newest nation, a place riven by conflict after years of infighting since ts 2011 independence from Khartoum.
He arrived in the capital, Juba, on a mission to promote peace and reconciliation in the world's youngest country, traumatized by civil war and scarred by poverty.
The pope, sitting in a wheelchair, was greeted after his plane touched down at Juba airport by a number of dignitaries including South Sudan's president, Salva Kiir.
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit receives Pope Francis at the Juba International Airport during his apostolic journey, in Juba, South Sudan, Feb. 3, 2023.
Pope Francis on Friday urged the leaders of South Sudan to make "a new start" for peace, warning that history would remember them based on their actions, as he began a three-day visit to the violence-wracked country.
"The process of peace and reconciliation requires a new start," the 86-year-old pontiff said in a speech at the presidential palace in Juba, calling for intensified efforts to end conflict in the world's newest nation.
"Future generations will either venerate your names or cancel their memory, based on what you now do," he told an audience that included President Salva Kiir, his rival and deputy Riek Machar, as well as diplomats, religious leaders and traditional kings.
The South Sudan trip follows a four-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a brutal conflict in the mineral-rich east was high on the pope's agenda.
The pope is joined by Archbishop of Canterbury Justic Welby and Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields.
The three Christian leaders have described their first joint foreign trip as a "pilgrimage of peace"
Welby said he was horrified by the latest killings in Eastern Equatoria State on the day before the pilgrimage.
"It is a story too often heard across South Sudan. I again appeal for a different way: for South Sudan to come together for a just peace," he said on Twitter.
The visit has been long anticipated in a devout country of 12 million where the church is a deeply respected institution with a long history of peace building.
A nun in the crowd shouts that the country needs peace as Pope Francis prepares to leave in his vehicle from the airport in Juba, South Sudan Friday, Feb. 3, 2023.
"I am very excited to see him," Hanah Zachariah, 20, told AFP, one of dozens of pilgrims who walked nine days from the town of Rumbek to Juba, a journey of around 400 kilometers, in a bid to see the pope.
Francis promised in 2019 to travel to South Sudan when he hosted the country's two warring leaders, President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, at a Vatican retreat and asked them to respect a hard-fought ceasefire for their people.
In one of the most remarkable gestures of his papacy, Francis knelt to kiss their feet, urging them not to return to civil war.
But four years later, South Sudan remains mired in intractable conflict and hopes are pinned on Francis to encourage much-needed unity in a nation riven with ethnic and political division.
"We have suffered a lot. Now, we want to achieve peace," said Robert Michael, a 36-year-old businessman, beneath one of many towering billboards in Juba welcoming the pope.
The visit follows a three-day stop in Kinshasa, the capital of neighbouring DRC, where a bloody conflict in the mineral-rich east was high on the pope's agenda.
Pope Francis waves at people during his apostolic journey, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo Feb. 3, 2023.
It was the first time since 1985 that a pope has visited the deeply troubled country - the size of continental western Europe - which has Africa's biggest Catholic following.
Before boarding his plane on Friday, the pope - who appeared fatigued - urged DRC's bishops to focus on the people and not just "political activity."
This report was sourced from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.