Pope Francis visited a remote village in the jungles of Papua New Guinea on Sunday, first celebrating Mass in the capital as crowds greeted him with cheers and a lively musical performance, including traditional dances.
The Pope arrived in Vanimo, on the northwest coast of the South Pacific nation, aboard a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 transport plane from the capital Port Moresby. The Pope has previously told church leaders to focus on the “peripheries of the country” and people in marginalized communities.
During his visit to the poverty-stricken country, he insisted that the Catholic Church is committed to helping those who have been “morally and physically” harmed by “prejudice and superstition.” Human Rights Watch says the country has a high rate of sexual violence, making it one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and girls.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
In Vanimo, where electricity and running water were scarce, Francis brought with him a huge amount of medicine, clothing and toys. He met with the local Catholic community and the missionaries from his native Argentina who had been serving them.
When Pope Francis arrived, a crowd of some 20,000 people gathered in the field in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Vanimo, singing and dancing, and he quickly donned the feather headdress he had been given as a gift.
Speaking from the high stage, Pope Francis praised church workers who go out to spread the faith, but he urged the faithful to be kind to one another and to work closer to home to end the inter-communal rivalries and violence that are a regular part of Papua New Guinea culture.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
He urged all community members to be like an orchestra, working together in harmony to overcome competition.
Doing so, he said, would help end divisions between individuals, families and tribes. “It would be about driving out fear, superstition and witchcraft from the minds of people and ending destructive behaviors such as violence, infidelity, exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse. These evils are imprisoning and robbing many of our brothers and sisters in this country as well.”
It was a reference to inter-communal violence over land and other disputes that has long characterized the country’s culture but has become more deadly in recent years. Francis arrived in Papua New Guinea to call for an end to violence, including gender-based violence, and for civic responsibility and a sense of cooperation to prevail.
Francis began his day by celebrating Mass in front of about 35,000 people at a stadium in the capital Port Moresby. Dancers in grass skirts and feather headdresses danced to the beat of traditional drums as priests in green robes ascended the altar.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
In his homily, Pope Francis told the crowd that while they may feel distant from their faith and the institutional church, God is close to them.
“You who live on this great island in the Pacific Ocean have probably at times felt that you were a distant land at the end of the world,” Francis said. “But … today the Lord wants to reach out to you, to break down the distance, to let you know that you are at the center of his heart and that each of you is important to him.”
Francis has long said that he prioritizes the Church “on the periphery,” in fact, more than the institutional church at its center. In keeping with that philosophy, Francis has largely avoided foreign trips to European capitals, preferring instead distant communities where Catholics are a minority.
Mark Baker / AP
With a population of 11,000, Vanimo is definitely a remote place. Located near the border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, where the jungle meets the sea, this coastal city is probably best known for its surfing.
Francis, the first Latin American pope in history, also had a special affection for the work of Catholic missionaries. As a young Argentine Jesuit, he had hoped to serve as a missionary in Japan, but poor health prevented him from going.
Now that he is pope, he has often held up missionaries as models for the Church, especially those who have sacrificed to spread the faith in distant places.
The Reverend Martin Prado, a missionary from the Order of the Incarnate Word from Argentina, is said to have invited the Pope to Vanimo.
As he waited for Pope Francis to arrive on Sunday, he told reporters the “crazy” story of how he went to Rome with his Vanimo parishioners in 2019 and ended up meeting the pope after the parishioners insisted on giving him gifts.
Prado, who has spent the last 10 of his 36 years as a missionary in Vanimo, said he wrote the pope a note and left it at the Vatican Hotel where he lives, and the next day received an email from Pope Francis’ secretary inviting his group to join.
“I invited him and he wanted to come,” Prado said. “He has a big heart for people. He doesn’t just say it, he walks the talk.”
Prado said some people living deep in the jungle, where cars have not yet arrived, need clothes and for them a plate of rice and tuna would be “glorious.”
Prado said he is also helping build a new secondary school. Prado said half of the parish’s children are unable to go to high school simply because there aren’t enough places.
The event had a very Argentine feel. On stage was a statue of Our Lady of Lujan, Argentina’s beloved patron saint, who was especially dear to Francis and for whom a local girls’ school was named. When Francis met privately with the nuns and missionary priests after the event, they offered him mate, an Argentinean tea.
According to Vatican statistics, there are about 2.5 million Catholics in Papua New Guinea, compared to an estimated 10 million in the Commonwealth. Catholics practice their faith alongside traditional indigenous beliefs, including animism and magic.
On Saturday, Francis heard firsthand how women were often falsely accused of witchcraft and shunned by their families. In an address to priests, bishops and nuns, Francis urged church leaders in Papua New Guinea to be especially close to the marginalized who are hurt by “prejudice and superstition.”
“I also think of those who are morally and physically marginalized and wounded by prejudices and superstitions, sometimes even at the risk of their lives,” Pope Francis said, urging the Church to be especially close to such people on the margins, with “closeness, compassion and tenderness.”
Francis’ visit to Vanimo was the highlight of his second leg of a four-nation tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, visiting Papua New Guinea. Francis will first stop in Indonesia before heading to Timor-Leste on Monday and ending his visit in Singapore midweek.
