On his first day in Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis issued three specific calls—one to the government and “the large companies” that exploit the rich natural resources of this land, another to this nation of around 1,000 tribes and a third to the Christians of Papua New Guinea.
The pope called for an improvement in the lives of the 11 million citizens of this beautiful land that is also one of the poorest countries in the world, with 80 percent of its mostly rural population living at a subsistence level. Many lack access to education, health care, electricity, clean drinking water and employment. Around 30 percent of the population lives under the poverty level (less than $1.25 per day).
When the pope arrived in the capital city of Port Moresby last night after a six-hour flight from Jakarta, he was welcomed by the deputy prime minister and a 21-gun salute, a military guard of honor and a band that played the Vatican and Papua New Guinea national anthems. It was dark at the airport, and there was very little street lighting on the route from the airport to the city because of a lack of electricity. However, hundreds of people of all ages waited to welcome him outside the airport, and many thousands carrying candles lined the road from there to the Vatican nunciature.
Pope Francis addressed the country’s civil and religious authorities and representatives of civil society this morning, Sept. 7, as well as members of the diplomatic corps at APEC House, in the center of Port Moresby, a city of 325,000 people. He delivered his address after being given an official welcome at Government House, the official residence of the Governor General, Sir Bob Bofeng Dadae, governor-general of Papua New Guinea and representative of King Charles III of the United Kingdom (Papua New Guinea is a member of the British Commonwealth).
He began by saying he was happy to be in their homeland, “an archipelago with hundreds of islands” where more than 800 languages are spoken by even more ethnic groups. He noted this “extraordinary cultural richness” and told hosts that “I must confess that this greatly fascinates me, also on a spiritual level, because I imagine that this enormous variety is a challenge to the Holy Spirit, who creates harmony among diversity.”
He then went on to address the challenges the country faces, beginning with widespread poverty. “The country is rich in natural resources,” he said, referring to the country’s deposits of gold, copper, nickel, petroleum and gas; these, he emphasized, “are destined by God for the entire community.” He told them, “even if outside experts and large international companies must be involved in the harnessing of these resources, it is only right that the needs of local people are given due consideration when distributing the proceeds and employing workers, in order to improve their living conditions.”
Francis next appealed to the nation’s tribes, numbering around 1,000, who still exercise considerable influence throughout the country. He called for an end to “the spiral of tribal violence” that remains a problem in the country and “prevents people from living in peace” and hinders development. He appealed “to everyone’s sense of responsibility to stop the spiral of violence” and “instead resolutely embark on the path that leads to fruitful cooperation for the benefit of all the people of the country.”
Pope Francis also called for “a definitive solution” to the sensitive question of the status of Bougainville Island “while avoiding the rekindling of ancient tensions.” The island, currently an autonomous province of Papua New Guinea, is rich with gold and copper resources whose extraction has been a major source of violence in which an estimated 20,000 have been killed.
After extended conflict with Papua New Guinea, the island held a non-binding referendum in 2019 and voted overwhelmingly for independence from Papua New Guinea. Bougainville Island could become an independent state by 2027, but this still depends on the approval of the Papua New Guinea government.
In a speech of welcome to the pope, the governor general also touched on the problem of violence and spoke about women’s rights. He told the pope, “We are happy to convey that the Catholic church has been very active advocating against violence and human rights abuses of the victims in the country,” and added that “we want to acknowledge the role of the woman and air the need for protection.” He told Francis, “in a world of greed and turmoil, your voice will be better heard by the world to love and respect the rise of women in a free world.”
Although Francis did not have an explicit reference to women in his prepared text (given to journalists in advance) or to the violence that so many of them suffer in this country, he picked up on Sir Bofeng Dadae’s remarks: “You talked about women. They are the ones who carry the country forward, they have the strength to give life, build and grow a country. Let us not forget the women who are on the front line of human and spiritual development.”
Papua New Guinea, the pope noted, also needs stable institutions. Greater “institutional stability and building consensus on fundamental choices is a prerequisite for integral and fair development,” he said, together with “a long-term vision and a climate of cooperation among all.”
The pope also reminded his audience that “human beings need more than just the basic necessities of life. They also need great hope in their hearts.” An abundance of material goods, he said, “is not enough to give birth to a life-giving, serene, hardworking and joyful society, which without a broader spiritual outlook turns in on itself and leads to a dryness of heart.”
Francis encouraged Christians in Papua New Guinea (almost 98 percent of the population) to “never reduce their faith to the observance of rituals and precepts” but instead to live it “by love of Jesus Christ and following him as a disciple. In this way, faith can become a lived culture, inspiring minds and actions and becoming a beacon of light that illuminates the path forward. At the same time, faith can also help society as a whole to grow and find good and effective solutions to its greatest challenges.”
He commended Papua New Guinea’s Christian communities “for the works of charity they are carrying out in the country” and urged them “always to seek cooperation with public institutions and with all people of good will, beginning with their brothers and sisters belonging to other Christian denominations and other religions, for the sake of the common good of all the citizens of Papua New Guinea.”
He concluded by thanking the governor general and other Papua New Guinea officials “for opening to me the doors of your beautiful country, so far from Rome and yet so close to the heart of the Catholic Church.”
At the conclusion of his address, a youth string orchestra played his home country’s national anthem for the Argentine-born pope. Afterward, Pope Francis individually greeted the heads of government of different countries of Pacific islands who had come to welcome him.
That afternoon, Francis greeted some 1,500 young students as well as street children and children with disabilities at Caritas Technical School, which is run by the Caritas Sisters of Jesus. Many students wore tribal dress and masks, and danced and cheered for him when he arrived.
Florentina Cho, C.S.J., a member of the Caritas Sisters who came here from South Korea in 1986 and was the director of this school for many years, spoke of her joy that Pope Francis had come to bless their work and visit their school: “He is a great man. He is always thinking of the poor. He is a living saint. His presence gives us hope that our troubles in this country may be overcome and that we will have peace.”
Afterward, Pope Francis traveled to the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians to greet the bishops of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands as well as 300 priests, religious men and women, seminarians and catechists. In his talk, he recalled the history of Catholicism in this country and the great sacrifices the missionaries had made to evangelize this nation, sometimes even to the point of martyrdom.
He encouraged them to go always to “the peripheries” in Papua New Guinea. “I think of people belonging to the most deprived segments of urban populations, as well as those who live in the most remote and abandoned areas, where sometimes basic necessities are lacking,” the pope said. “I think too of the marginalized and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudice and superstition.” Crowds again lined the route as his white, hybrid economy Toyota car took him back to the nunciature.
Tomorrow, Sunday morning, Sept. 8, Pope Francis will preside at Mass in Sir John Guise Stadium. Afterward, he will fly to Vanimo, a city of 11,000 people in the far northwest corner of the country on the border with Indonesia. There, he will meet with missionary priests and nuns from his native Argentina.
