PAPUA NEW GUINEA The Pope asked from Port Moresby ‘that the riches of the land and the sea be for everyone’

In the archipelago of Oceania, marked by intensive exploitation by large multinationals, the pontiff called for “sustainable and equitable development.” He called on his political community to work together to end “the tribal violence that causes so many victims.” He invited the Church to have the strength to “always start anew,” to reach out to the most remote physical and human peripheries, including victims of accusations of witchcraft. He also referred to the blessed martyrs Giovanni Mazzucconi and Peter To Rot.

Port Moresby () – In the distribution of the profits obtained from Papua New Guinea’s land and water resources and from its workforce, “due account must be taken of the needs of local populations in order to bring about an effective improvement in their living conditions.” Because while to exploit them “it is necessary to resort to broader skills and large international companies,” it must be remembered that “these assets are destined by God for the entire community.”

From Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, the second stop on his apostolic journey to South-East Asia and Oceania, Pope Francis today called for justice in the relations between large interests and small communities in the globalised world. This is a natural paradise characterised by “extraordinary cultural and human wealth”, said the pontiff. But it is also an archipelago with fragile balances and always wounded by new frontiers of exploitation, and on these remote and little-known islands, already exposed to the effects of climate change, the global race to always hoard new raw materials at low cost today risks threatening even the seabed with new deep-sea mining projects.

This is why, this morning, when he addressed his first address to the authorities, representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps gathered at APEC House – the modern complex built a few years ago to hold the first summit of the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation body – Francis invoked the horizon of a “sustainable and equitable development, which promotes the well-being of all, without excluding anyone, through concretely implementable programs and through international cooperation, in a framework of mutual respect and with agreements beneficial to all.”

However, Papua New Guinea is also called upon to make its contribution. Addressing the country’s political community after meeting Governor General Bob Dadae, the Pope recalled that in order to achieve these results, “the stability of institutions is essential, favoured by harmony on certain essential points between the different conceptions and sensibilities present in society.” Referring to the serious clashes that have occurred in recent months in Port Moresby and in the province of East Sepik, Pope Francis affirmed the need to stop tribal violence “which unfortunately causes many victims, does not allow people to live in peace and hinders development.” “I appeal to everyone’s sense of responsibility,” he said, “to stop the spiral of violence and to resolutely undertake the path that leads to fruitful cooperation, for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the country.” He also called for a “definitive solution” to be reached, “avoiding the resurgence of old tensions”, particularly regarding the status of the island of Bougainville, where in 2019, in a non-binding referendum, the local population voted massively for full independence.

Francis praised the choice of the single word, “Pray-Pray,” as the motto for this second stage of his trip. “Perhaps some, too observant of what is ‘politically correct,’ may be surprised by this choice,” he said, “but in reality they are mistaken, because a people who pray has a future, drawing strength and hope from above.” At the same time – in a country where the vast majority of the population declare themselves to be Christian and where since 2015 some evangelical groups have even enthroned the King James Bible in Parliament, promising that this gesture would bring “blessings and riches” – the Pope urged that “faith never be reduced to the observance of rites and precepts, but that it consist of love, in loving and following Jesus Christ, and can become a lived culture, inspiring minds and actions, and becoming a beacon of light that illuminates the path.”

Living this love is not easy in an extreme land like Papua New Guinea. Pope Francis underlined this in particular during his afternoon meeting with bishops, priests, consecrated persons and pastoral workers at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Port Moresby. It is a mission that always requires “the courage to start anew,” the pontiff noted, and he also recalled the difficulties faced by the first missionaries, among whom he mentioned Blessed Giovanni Battista Mazzucconi, the first martyr of the PIME in 1855, and the local catechist Peter To Rot, also killed in odium fidei in 1945 and proclaimed blessed by John Paul II in Papua New Guinea in 1995.

He called on the Catholic Church to go out every day to the peripheries, which in this archipelago and on the large island of Papua are also particularly remote, even physically. “I think of the people who belong to the most disadvantaged sectors of the urban population, and also of those who live in the most remote and abandoned areas, where sometimes the necessities are lacking. And also of those who are marginalized and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudices and superstitions, sometimes to the point that their lives are in danger,” explained Francis, making express reference to the scourge of violence linked to accusations of witchcraft.

A few hours earlier, the Pope had entrusted the secret of how to walk in this way to a group of street children and disabled people, assisted by a diocesan organisation and the Callan Service, who welcomed him to the Caritas Technical Secondary School with dances and colourful traditional clothing from their tribes. “How can we make our world more beautiful and happier?” they asked him. Francesco – with a very clear image – invited them to learn from the cat: Have you ever seen how a cat prepares itself when it has to take a big leap? First it concentrates and directs all its strength and muscles in the right direction. Perhaps it does it so quickly that we don’t even notice it, but it does it. And so we too must concentrate all our strength, directing it towards one goal, which is the love of Jesus – and, in Him, of all the brothers and sisters we meet along the way – and then gather momentum and fill everything and everyone with our affection.”