OCEANIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Spiritual preparation, prayer, meetings of the faithful in view of the Pope's trip

Port Moresby (Agenzia Fides) - Prayers, reflections and moments of discussion. This is how the priests of Papua New Guinea are preparing to live Pope Francis' apostolic journey. The Pontiff, on what has been defined as "the papal trip of records", will remain in the country for just over 48 hours. However, despite the little time at his disposal, his agenda is full of appointments and, despite the fact that the vast majority of the population is Protestant (Catholics barely represent 26% of the population, which is close to 10 million), there is great expectation regarding this historic event. The last Pope to visit Papua New Guinea was John Paul II in 1995. Francis should have gone there four years ago, but the outbreak of the pandemic blocked everything.

Since the announcement of the trip, parishes and communities have strived to offer the faithful moments of prayer and catechetical and formation meetings to help Christians - and not only them - understand why the greatest exponent of the Catholic Church, who is not only a spiritual leader but also a Head of State, will visit not only the capital, Port Moresby, but also Vanimo, a small town of just under 10,000 inhabitants where there is a thriving Catholic community, rich in missionaries, several of them Argentines.

"People are curious and want to know more", Father Victor Roche, Indian missionary of the Society of the Divine Word and currently National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Papua New Guinea, told Fides. But to prepare the faithful, priests also need to meet, reflect and prepare spiritually. And so the traditional spiritual retreat of the clergy in Port Moresby, led by Cardinal John Ribat, M.S.C., Archbishop of Port Moresby, and preached by Dariusz Kaluza MSF, Bishop of Bougainville, has become an occasion to discuss and pray about the many initiatives that will take place between now and the Pope's visit.

Because if it is true that "people want to know more", it is necessary to know how to convey the beauty of a papal trip well in a particular context. According to official data, Papua New Guinea is on the podium for the lowest percentage of population living in cities: 13.2% (second only after Burundi). If we take into account that the island has an urbanization rate of 2.51% and that a large part of the population is illiterate, the formation of priests becomes even more important. Across the nation, according to the 2021 Statistical Yearbook of the Church, there are 304 diocesan and 295 religious. (FB) (Agenzia Fides, 24/7/2024)

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