Pope Francis has brought a message of love, unity and hope to Papua New Guinea, the second stop on his four-nation tour of South-East Asia and Oceania, where he attended a number of events in the capital Port Moresby, as well as visiting Argentine missionaries in the remote town of Vanimo. Flying to outpost in a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules plane on 8 September, the Pope encouraged the 20,000 people who gathered to meet him to match the natural beauty of their environment with the beauty of their love.
A warm welcome
The Pope arrived in Papua New Guinea on 6 September for a four-day visit, where he engaged with a range of groups including young people, missionaries and marginalised populations.
Papua New Guinea is home to hundreds of ethnic groups living in remote areas and speaking their own languages. While rich in natural resources, including gold, copper and natural gas, a third of the population nevertheless lives below the poverty line.
On his arrival at Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby, Pope Francis was greeted with a 21-cannon salute and flowers from children in traditional dress. Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso led the official welcome ceremony, which included a review of the honour guard and the playing of national anthems.
Open yourselves! Open yourselves to the joy of the Gospel; open yourselves to encounter God; open yourselves to the love of your brothers and sisters.
Despite landing after sunset, the Pope was greeted by thousands of people lining the roads from the airport, many holding battery-powered candles to mark the third papal visit to Papua New Guinea, following visits by St John Paul II in 1984 and 1995.
No to fear, yes to God and each other
The next day, on 7 September, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby. Addressing an estimated 35,000 people, the Pope focused on overcoming fear and embracing faith and community.
Traditional dancers and drummers led the procession of concelebrating bishops and priests, forming two lines for them to pass through at the foot of the altar.
‘Open yourselves! Open yourselves to the joy of the Gospel; open yourselves to encounter God; open yourselves to the love of your brothers and sisters,’ the Pope said at Mass on 8 September in Port Moresby’s Sir John Guise Stadium.
He urged the congregation to set aside tribal rivalries and beliefs in sorcery, pointing out that God calls Christians ‘to have the courage to be open to faith and to be true neighbours to one another.’
None of us are a ‘burden’. ‘We are all beautiful gifts from God, a treasure for one another!
Pope Francis highlighted the healing power of Jesus, saying, ‘Whenever we feel distant, or we choose to keep ourselves at a distance from God, from our brothers and sisters or from those who are different from us, we close ourselves off, barricading ourselves from the outside.’ He encouraged the faithful to overcome their fears and rediscover themselves ‘as children loved by God and as brothers and sisters of one another’.
All people are gifts from God
Later that day, Pope Francis visited the Caritas Technical Secondary School in Port Moresby, meeting with some 800 students, former street children and individuals with disabilities. Responding to challenging questions about suffering and disability, the Pope emphasised the uniqueness and value of each person.
‘To give love, always, and to welcome with open arms the love we receive from the people we care about: this is the most beautiful and most important thing in our life, in any condition and for any person—even for the Pope,’ he told the children.
‘None of us are a “burden”,’ he said. ‘We are all beautiful gifts from God, a treasure for one another!’
Pope Francis ended the afternoon at the city’s Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, where he listened to church workers share their experiences, including efforts to help victims of witchcraft accusations. He encouraged them to persevere in their ministries, drawing inspiration from early missionaries.
The Church desires especially to be close to these [marginalised] brothers and sisters, because in them Jesus is present in a special way.
Sister Lorena Jenal, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Divine Providence, told Pope Francis about one of the 250 women her House of Hope has helped.
‘Maria came to us in 2017,’ Sister Jenal said. ‘She was so badly tortured and burnt that we did not know if we could save her life.’
But, she said, ‘today she is working in our team standing up for human rights and the dignity and equality of women. She witnesses to the importance of love and forgiveness among all people.’
Grace Wrakia, a laywoman who is a member of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, told the Pope or her hopes for synodality in her homeland. ‘I want to see change where women are partners and cooperators, where young people are not ignored or neglected but received with open hearts and minds, where priests and religious work as partners and not as competitors, where priests and consecrated men are not regarded as “big men” but as servant leaders,’ she said.
Pope Francis encouraged the church workers to hold fast and keep trying, inspired by the missionaries who arrived in Papua New Guinea in the mid-1800s. ‘The first steps of their ministry were not easy. Indeed, some attempts failed. However, they did not give up; with great faith, apostolic zeal and many sacrifices, they continued to preach the Gospel and serve their brothers and sisters, starting again many times whenever they failed.’
Francis emphasised the importance of reaching out to marginalised communities, saying, ‘The church desires especially to be close to these brothers and sisters, because in them Jesus is present in a special way.’
Matching creation’s beauty with beauty of love
On 8 September, Pope Francis flew nearly 1000 kilometres aboard a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules plane to the remote town of Vanimo, where he was welcomed by an estimated 20,000 people gathered on a field in front of Holy Cross Cathedral.
The trip to the remote town was organised so that the Pope could spend an afternoon with a group of missionaries—many from Argentina—and with their people. He brought with him about a ton of medicine, clothing, toys and other aid for the missionaries to distribute, the Vatican press office said. A pool reporter on his plane said he also had a large jar of lollipops to distribute to children.
Father Tomás Ravaioli, one of the Argentine Incarnate Word missionaries working nearby in Baro, said, ‘at his age, in his condition, this is an enormous sacrifice. But it shows that what he says, what he writes, he also demonstrates’ through his closeness and service to people.
Let us remember that love is stronger ... and its beauty can heal the world, because it has its roots in God.
Vanimo is the capital of Papua New Guinea’s Sandaun Province, which is one of the poorest in the nation. Situated on the north-western coast, it is an area prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity.
Addressing the crowd, the Pope marvelled at the natural beauty of Papua New Guinea, describing it as ‘evoking the image of Eden’. He urged the people to match this natural beauty with the beauty of their love, saying, ‘An even more beautiful sight is that which grows in us when we love one another.’
Pope Francis called on Christians to work ‘to overcome divisions—personal, family and tribal—to drive out fear, superstition and magic from people’s hearts, to put an end to destructive behaviours such as violence, infidelity, exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse, evils which imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters, even in this country’.
‘Let us remember that love is stronger than all this and its beauty can heal the world, because it has its roots in God,’ Pope Francis said.
United in love
On 9 September before departing Papua New Guinea—a country where about 60 per cent of population is under the age of 25—Pope Francis returned to Sir John Guise Stadium to meet with an estimated 10,000 young people, addressing some of the challenges they face, including family separation, violence and limited opportunities for growth.
In Papua New Guinea, the term wantok means people who share a language and culture, and that is what Christians should be, Pope Francis said, but only in the sense of sharing the language and culture of love.
Observing that words can either divide or unite, the Pope encouraged the young people to ‘learn a common language, the language of love’. He urged them to ‘Break down divisions’, not closing ‘yourselves within your own group’, but instead going out ‘to meet others and form friendships and then dream together, walk together, build together’.
Pope Francis expressed his ‘hope that you learn the language of love and thus transform your country, because love brings about change, makes you grow and opens paths to the future’. He also reminded them of the importance of resilience, saying, ‘What is important is to get back up’ and to help others when they fall.
Banner Image: Pope Francis greets a woman in traditional dress upon his arrival at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Port Moresby on 7 September. (Photo: CNS/Lola Gomez.)
