2024-09-08 08:55:26
Visiting “regions” of the world. Pope Francis made a historic trip to the jungles of Papua New Guinea on Sunday. In Vanimo, a rural and remote town, Pope Francis chose to meet, on Sunday, some 20,000 people from different areas.
Among them, hundreds have traveled, sometimes several days from the other end of the island to meet the Argentine Jesuit. Joachim Mombigo said: “I am Catholic and I want to see the head of the Church. In the crowd, families, who are often poor, hundreds of children who don’t wear shoes. Groups of young people, sitting on the ground for several hours, show the red and black flag of their country or the picture of the Bishop of Rome. Steven Nati, 53, hopes for a recovery. “I have many problems and I came so that the Pope can bless me, so that I can heal,” explained this Vanimo resident, leaning on a cane.
Pope of the Periphery
A port city of 10,000 souls located on the border with Indonesia, Vanimo only showed “communities” dear to the first South American Pope in history, who described himself as coming “from the ends of the earth” during his election in 2013 . With this trip, the announcement of which took place even in Rome, Pope Francis remembers the importance he attaches to the communities and populations that have been isolated or isolated in the Church that he wants to see less closed in itself.
More than 80% of Papua New Guinea’s population lives in villages, following ancestral traditions, some of which have been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. In his speech, the pope glorified “a great land, rich in all kinds of plants and birds, before which we cannot speak in front of the colors, sounds, scents, a wonderful sight of nature full of life. Francis also urged to “drive fear, superstition and magic out of the hearts of people”, because some areas of the Highlands are the site of evil scavengers accused by tribes who are afraid of putting the the power of evil works.
After a return scheduled for the evening in the capital Port Moresby, Francis will leave Papua New Guinea on Monday for East Timor, the third stop of his marathon tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania.
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