Pope Francis is the second pope to visit Papua New Guinea, on the second leg of his four-nation trip through Southeast Asia and Oceania.
ADVERTISEMENTThe pope continued his celebration of the Catholic Church in Asia and Oceania on Sunday as he travelled to the more remote parts of Papua New Guinea.
Flying aboard a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 transport plane from Port Moresby to the coastal town of Vanimo, Francis met with the local Catholic community and missionaries from his native Argentina.
An estimated 20,000 people gathered on the field in front of the Vanimo cathedral singing and dancing when Francis arrived.
Francis praised the church workers who go out to try to spread the faith. However, he also urged the faithful to work closer to home to be good to one another and end rivalries and violence.
He called for an end to divisions that encourage "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," referencing violence over land disputes that have grown more lethal in recent years.
In his homily, Francis told the crowd that they may well feel themselves distant from both their faith and the institutional church but that God was near to them.
“You who live on this large island in the Pacific Ocean may sometimes have thought of yourselves as a far away and distant land, situated at the edge of the world,” Francis said. “Yet today the Lord wants to draw near to you, to break down distances, to let you know that you are at the centre of his heart and that each one of you is important to him.”
After the Mass, Francis boarded the C-130 with just a few aides and his security detail. On board was the golf cart "Popemobile" he was using in Vanimo, as well as a tonne of humanitarian aid, including medicine, clothes and toys for children, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.
Francis has long prioritised the church on the “peripheries,” saying it is actually more important than the centre of the institutional church. In keeping with that philosophy, Francis has largely shunned foreign trips to European capitals, preferring instead far-flung communities where Catholics are often a minority.
Vanimo, with a population of some 11,000, is known to outsiders as a surfing destination. According to Vatican statistics, there are about 2.5 million Catholics in Papua New Guinea out of a population of around 10 million.
On Saturday, Francis urged church leaders in Papua New Guinea to pay close attention to people on the margins of society who had been wounded by “prejudice and superstition” after hearing stories of how women are falsely accused of witchcraft and then shunned by their families.
Francis’ visit to Vanimo was part of the second leg of his four-nation tour of Asia and Oceania. On Monday, the pope will head to East Timor before wrapping up his trip in Singapore later in the week.