St. Daniel Comboni

The Catholic Church has elevated the feast day celebrations of St. Josephine Bakhita and St. Daniel Comboni to solemnities in Sudan and South Sudan, a rare liturgical honour for the two saints. Bakhita, a Sudanese-born former slave who became a Canossian sister, and Comboni, a 19th-century missionary who died in Khartoum, are closely tied to the region's Christian history. Local Catholics are celebrating the recognition as a milestone for the Church in the two countries.