Pope Francis has made a historic visit to the distant jungles of Papua New Guinea, holding an open-air mass “at the sting of the world” within the coastal town of Vanimo, where he addressed a crowd of 20,000 people.
In his sermon, Francis praised the church staff who spread the religion but urged the faithful to work closer to home to finish tribal rivalries and violence.
The 87-year-old pontiff flew into Vanimo, a coastal town with a population of 11,000, where he met with the local Catholic community and missionaries from his native Argentina.
The Pope’s visit aimed to advertise civic responsibility, cooperation, and an end to violence, including gender-based violence. He brought medicine, musical instruments, and toys to support the local population.
“You who continue to exist this massive island within the Pacific Ocean may sometimes have considered yourselves as a distant and distant land, situated at the sting of the world,” Francis said.
“Yet today the Lord desires to draw near to you, to interrupt down distances, to let you realize that you simply are on the centre of his heart and that every one in all you is vital to him.”
Francis has prioritised the church on the “peripheries”, saying it’s more necessary than the centre of the institutional church. He has shunned trips to European capitals, preferring far-flung communities where Catholics are sometimes a minority.
The distant city of Vanimo, situated near Papua New Guinea’s border with Indonesia, is often known as a browsing destination.
As Pope Francis arrived on the Vanimo Cathedral, a sea of roughly 20,000 people erupted in song and dance on the sector outside.
In a symbolic gesture, Pope Francis donned a vibrant feathered headdress presented to him by local officials, embracing the wealthy cultural heritage of Papua New Guinea.
The event took on a definite Argentine flavour, with a statue of the Virgin of Lujan, a revered figure in Catholicism, particularly in Argentina, prominently displayed on stage. Following the general public celebration, Pope Francis met privately with nuns and missionary priests, where he was treated to a conventional Argentine tea, maté.
Father Martin Prado, an Argentine missionary credited with having invited Francis to go to Vanimo, said the Pope has a giant heart for people and shouldn’t be just words, he does what he says.
Francis’s visit to Papua New Guinea is an element of his four-nation tour of southeast Asia and Oceania. He will next visit East Timor and Singapore before returning to Rome on 13 September. The Pope’s longest overseas trip is aimed toward promoting peace, understanding, and the Catholic faith within the region.
In Papua New Guinea, greater than 90 per cent of 12 million residents call themselves Christian, but the faith sits alongside a panoply of local beliefs, customs, and rites, while a couple of quarter of Papua New Guineans are Catholic.
Francis heard first hand about how women are sometimes falsely accused of witchcraft after which shunned by their families. He urged church leaders to be particularly close to those people on the margins who’ve been wounded by “prejudice and superstition”.
The country has turn out to be a significant goal of international firms for its gas, gold, and other reserves. In a speech to its political authorities on Saturday, Francis called for higher treatment of its staff and appealed for an end to a spate of ethnic violence that has killed dozens in recent months.
Before heading to Vanimo, Francis celebrated a mass on Sunday with about 35,000 people at a sports venue in Port Moresby, the nation’s capital. He told the local populace that while they might think they live in “a distant and distant land”, God is near to them.
The Pope’s visit to Papua New Guinea has been seen as a major event, with many locals gathering to catch a glimpse of the pontiff. Some had gathered from the early hours to be certain that they might participate in morning mass.
“You hear the word ‘faithful’. At two o’clock within the morning, people were lining up outside the gate, you realize that they’re faithful,” Jonathan Kassman, an official involved in hosting the event, said.
Bernard Soari, who travelled from one in all Papua New Guinea’s more distant islands to the capital, said the Pope’s remarks brought “an ocean of feelings”.
“It strengthens our faith to know the meaning of affection and respect for each other. We are honoured to have the Pope visiting our land,” said the 48-year-old.
