By Joshua McElwee
VANIMO, Papua New Guinea (Reuters) – Pope Francis flew deep into the jungle of the Southwestern Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea on Sunday to go to Catholics residing in some of the distant areas of the world and ship medical provides and different support.
Travelling 1,000 km (620 miles) in a C-130 cargo plane supplied by the Royal Australian Air Pressure, Francis arrived with a small entourage in Vanimo, a township of some 12,000 folks within the northwestern nook of PNG’s predominant island, with no working water and scarce electrical energy.
The 87-year-old pope introduced tons of of kilograms of things to assist help the native inhabitants, mentioned Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. They included varied medicines and clothes, as properly mentioned toys and musical devices for college youngsters, Bruni mentioned.
The pope is visiting the nation of 600 islands as a part of his bold 12-day, four-country tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest of his 11-year-old papacy.
He got here to Vanimo on the invitation of native missionaries with the Catholic Institute of the Incarnate Phrase. They, like Francis, the primary pope from the Americas, are from Argentina.
“You are doing something beautiful, and it is important that you are not left alone,” Francis informed the gang, which the Vatican estimated at 20,000, of missionaries and Catholic trustworthy from Vanimo in a gathering outdoors the city’s one-storey, wood-panelled cathedral parish.
“You live in a magnificent land, enriched by a great variety of plants and birds,” mentioned the pope. “The beauty of the landscape is matched by the beauty of a community where people love one another”.
The Rev. Tomas Ravaioli, one of many missionaries, mentioned he couldn’t consider the pope had truly come to Vanimo. “He is keeping his promise to come,” mentioned the priest. “We cannot believe it. At his age he is making an enormous effort.”
A sprawling nation of mountains, jungle and rivers, PNG is residence to greater than 800 languages and tons of of tribes, together with dozens of uncontacted peoples.
As with different occasions all through his keep within the nation, Francis was greeted in a subject outdoors the cathedral with a standard dance from a bunch carrying feathered headdresses and straw skirts. A number of the males wore koteka, a standard gourd protecting over the penis.
The pope additionally heard 4 testimonies from native Catholics. Steven Abala, a lay instructor, described how some rural communities, reduce off from roads, should wait weeks or months between visits by monks.
Abala introduced Francis with a headdress with yellow and brown feathers, which the pope tried on.
The Vatican says there are round 2.5 million Catholics in PNG, which has a inhabitants estimated at anyplace from 9 million to 17 million.
The nation has change into a serious goal of worldwide firms for its fuel, gold and different reserves. In a speech to its political authorities on Saturday, Francis referred to as for higher therapy of its staff and appealed for an finish to a spate of ethnic violence that has killed dozens in current months.
In Vanimo, the pope requested native Catholics to work “to put an end to 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”.
Earlier than heading to Vanimo, Francis celebrated a Mass on Sunday with about 35,000 folks at a sports activities venue in Port Moresby, the nation’s capital. He informed the native populace that whereas they could suppose they stay in “a far away and distant land”, God is close to to them.
The pope will return to Port Moresby on Sunday night after spending about two and a half hours in Vanimo. Spherical journey, the pontiff will fly some 2,000 km (1,200 miles) over about 4 hours.
Francis is visiting PNG till Monday as a part of a tour that first included a cease in Indonesia. He travels subsequent to East Timor, then Singapore earlier than heading again to Rome on Sept. 13.
