The pope celebrated the Catholic Church of the peripheries on Sunday as he travelled to the remote jungles of Papua New Guinea, bringing with him a ton of medicine and toys.
Flying aboard a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 transport plane from Port Moresby to 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, who put on a feathered headdress that had been presented to him.
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 at being good to one another and putting an end to the tribal rivalries and violence that are a regular part of the culture in Papua New Guinea.
He called for an end to personal, family and tribal 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.”
Francis was referencing ethnic 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 ton 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, a coastal city with a population 11,000, is largely known 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 Southeast Asia and Oceania. On Monday to East Timor before wrapping up his trip in Singapore later in the week.
Euronews
