In remarks from a raised stage, Francis praised the church workers who go out to try to spread the faith.
But he urged the residents of Vanimo to work at home at being good to one another.
He urged them to be like an orchestra, so that all members of the community come together harmoniously to overcome rivalries.
Francis arrived in Papua New Guinea to urge an end to the violence, including gender-based violence, and for a sense of civic responsibility to prevail.
Francis had started the day with a Mass before an estimated 35,000 people at the stadium in the capital, Port Moresby.
Francis, history’s first Latin American pope, has also had a special affinity for the work of Catholic missionaries.
Martin Prado, an Argentine missionary of the Institute of the Incarnate Word religious order, was responsible for getting the pope to Vanimo.
When Francis met privately after the event with the nuns and missionary priests, they served him mate, the Argentine tea.
There are about 2.5 million Catholics in Papua New Guinea, according to Vatican statistics, out of a population in the Commonwealth nation believed to be around 10 million.
Francis’ visit to Vanimo was the highlight of his visit to Papua New Guinea, the second leg of his four-nation tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Francis has previously visited the Peruvian Amazon to raise awareness of its plight, the plains of Ur, Iraq, the edge of the Arctic to apologize to the Inuit people for church abuses, and the plains of Ur, Iraq to strengthen ties between Christians and Muslims. But Sunday’s trip to isolated Vanimo was remarkable even by his standards.
Francis arrived to find a throng of about 20,000 people singing and dancing on the field in front of the Vanimo cathedral. He immediately donned a feathered headdress that someone had given him.
Francis commended the church employees who go out and try to spread the faith in remarks given from a raised platform. However, he asked Vanimo’s citizens to practice kindness toward one another at home. In order for the community’s members to work together amicably and get past their differences, he urged them to resemble an orchestra.
Putting an end to destructive behaviors like violence, infidelity, exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse, and other evils that imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters, he said, would be made possible by doing this. “.
It alludesd to the long-standing but recently more deadly tribal violence over land and other disputes that have long been a feature of the culture of the nation. After traveling to Papua New Guinea, Francis pushed for the eradication of all forms of violence, particularly those motivated by gender, and the triumph of civic duty.
Francis had celebrated Mass in front of an estimated 35,000 people at the stadium in Port Moresby, the capital, to start the day. Francis said in his homily that although the people might feel cut off from the institutional church and their own faith, God is still close to them.
Francis said, “You people who live on this big island in the Pacific Ocean may have thought of yourselves as a far away and distant land, situated at the edge of the world.”. However, today the Lord desires to come closer to you, to bridge gaps, and to convey to you that you are all precious to him and that you are the center of his universe. “.
The speech Francis gave to his fellow cardinals in 2013 regarding the necessity of the church reaching out to the “peripheries” where people most need God played a significant role in his election as pope. Francis has generally avoided traveling to foreign countries and visiting European capitals in line with that philosophy, choosing instead to live in remote areas where Catholics are frequently the minority.
The 11,000-person town of Vanimo most definitely qualifies as remote. Reached primarily by plane or boat, it is situated close to the border between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, where the jungle meets the sea.
Additionally, Francis, the first Latin American pope in history, has a particular fondness for Catholic missionaries’ work. His poor health kept the young Argentine Jesuit from fulfilling his dream of becoming a missionary in Japan.
In his capacity as pope, he has frequently praised missionaries as role models for the church.
Rev. The pope was brought to Vanimo by Argentine missionary Martin Prado of the Institute of the Incarnate Word religious order.
While waiting for Pope Francis to arrive on Sunday, he told reporters the “strange” tale of how, in 2019, he traveled to Rome with a group of Vanimo parishioners and, as a result, was granted an audience with the pope because his parishioners insisted on giving him some gifts.
Prado, who has worked as a missionary in Vanimo for the last ten of his thirty-six years, claimed that after writing a note and leaving it for the pope at his hotel in the Vatican, he received an email the following day from Francis’ secretary inviting his group to visit.
Prado stated, “I invited him, but he wanted to come.”. “He loves people very much. He acts on what he says, not just talk. “.
Some people in the diocese’s interior, deep in the jungle where cars have not yet arrived, according to Prado, need clothes, and a plate of rice and tuna fish “is glorious” for them. “.
Francis was carrying roughly a tonne of toys, clothes, musical instruments, and medication, according to the Vatican. Per Prado, Francis was also involved in the construction of a new high school. According to him, there aren’t enough high school spots available for half of the diocese’s children.
The patron saint of Argentina, the Virgin of Lujan, is especially dear to Francis and is honored to have her statue on the stage. The local girls’ school bears her name. This added an authentically Argentine touch to the event. Francis was served mate, an Argentine tea, when he had a private meeting with the nuns and missionary priests following the event.
Based on figures from the Vatican, there are roughly 2.5 million Catholics in Papua New Guinea, out of an estimated 10 million people living in the Commonwealth country. The Catholics combine their traditional Indigenous beliefs—such as sorcery and animism—with their faith.
Francis’s visit to Vanimo was the high point of his second leg of his four-nation tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, which began in Papua New Guinea. Francis leaves Indonesia on Monday and travels to East Timor before concluding his trip in Singapore the following week.
