Pope Francis’ last day in Papua New Guinea was committed to talking to the youths.
The approach was different with more interaction with all the youths that gathered at the Sir John Guise Outdoor Stadium.
He advised the youths to share one language of love and not indifference.
“Indifference is something very difficult, very ugly,” the Pontiff said.
“Indifference, we’re just concerned about ourselves and our own interests, it’s all about us, it’s about ego.”
Instead the Pope encouraged the youths to have one common language. The language of love.
He posed the question to a stadium filled with students from all catholic run schools and church youth groups.
“What is the language that unites us, keeps us together?”
They echoed “love”.
“I hope all of you speak the most profound language of love that would be “wantoks” of love.
“This unity in love, which you will be able to find through friendship with Jesus, will help with overcoming loneliness and allow you to search together for ways to be better people.
“It will also help you to be better equipped to take charge of your lives and make courageous decisions: to say “no” to drugs and alcohol; “no” to pornography, which leaves people sad and empty; “no” to all forms of violence!”
He also had another great request for the youth.
“Something I am about to tell you may seem a-bit strange but there’s something very important in life of young people- closeness to your grandparents and elders.”
The Pope lead them in shouting “Long live grandparents”.
Vanimo, West Sepik – As Pope Francis boarded the Australian Air Force C130 for Port Moresby yesterday evening, his last message to the people of Vanimo was – be missionaries of peace and love wherever you are.
In his three hour visit to Vanimo, the Pope highlighted the importance of being instruments of peace and love. He said Vanimo town is blessed with its natural beauty and the people must see this as a sign of harmony.
“The Lord entrusts this richness to you, so that you too may live united in harmony with him, and with your brothers and sisters, respecting our common home and looking after one another.
“Looking around us, we see the ‘sweetness’ of nature. Yet when we look to ourselves, we realize that there is an even more beautiful sight: that which grows in us when we love one another,” the Pope said.
Faithfuls in Vanimo, waved the PNG flag as Pope Francis passed by.
The Pope further encouraged everyone to be missionaries of peace and love, saying that love can break barriers and end all despair.
“Jesus taught us this when he said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” Mt 22:35-40.
“In this way, we will increasingly form a great orchestra, able with its notes to recompose rivalries, to overcome divisions – personal, family and tribal, to drive out fear, superstition and magic from our hearts, to put an end to destructive behaviors 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,” he said.
“We too can become cutoff from the communication and friendship with God and our brothers and sisters when instead of our ears and tongue, our hearts become blocked.”
Celebrating the Holy Mass in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on Sunday (8th September), Pope Francis shared two interpretations of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7:31-37 where Jesus healed the deaf and mute person.
“In St Marks account there are two things that is emphasized, the distance of the deaf man and the nearness of Jesus.
“Let us reflect on these two features the distance of the deaf man, we see him in a geographical area that we would call in today’s language the periphery. The deaf man was distant, the Pope said, in that he hailed from the Decapolis, a land inhabited by pagans far from the religious centre of Jerusalem.
He was “cut off from the world, isolated, a prisoner of his deaf and mute condition.
“Because of their pagan customs it was considered an impure territory far from God, what is more, this deaf man also experienced another kind of distance, he is far from God and from others because he cannot communicate; he is deaf and unable to hear and he is also mute he cannot speak, he is cutoff from the world, a prisoner in his deaf and mute condition a prisoner that cannot communicate,” Pope Francis added.
Pope Francis said there could also be another interpretation of the deaf man’s situation.
“Indeed, there is a kind of inner deafness and muteness of heart that occurs when we close in on ourselves or shut ourselves from God and others through selfishness, indifference, fear of taking risks or putting ourselves on the line, resentment hatred and the list could go on.
All these, distances us from God, from our brothers and sisters and ourselves and from the Joy of living,” Pope Francis concluded.
With just two days remaining before the arrival of Pope Francis, preparations are underway for this historical religious event.
The Sir John Guise Stadium’s out door complex is expected to be filled to capacity by thousands of Catholic followers and enthusiasts on Friday (6th September) at 6:50pm.
The Catholic Church in PNG is preparing to host a candlelight vigil on Friday to welcome the Pope and his delegation. The candlelight service will be the first event of his three – day visit in the country.
Pope Francis will be the second Pontiff to visit PNG after the visitation of Pope John Paul ll in 1984 and 1995.
According to the Vatican News, Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the street Ministry and Callan Services at Caritas Technical Secondary School on September 7th to meet with religious leaders and Catechists at the Shrine of Mary.
The Pope will then travel to Vanimo on September 8th to perform a Eucharistic Celebration. He will meet with youths on September 9th before he departs for the Vatican at 11:40am.
He has departed Rome at 5:32 pm (Vatican time) to begin his 45th 12-day apostolic journey abroad to visit four countries in Asia and Oceania.
Pope Francis will visit Papua New Guinea at the age of 87.
Thousands are expected to cross the PNG-Indonesian border to get a glimpse of Pope Francis when he visits Vanimo in West Sepik province, Papua New Guinea.
He will spend three hours in the province.
Despite the pope visiting Indonesia for three days before arriving in Papua New Guinea, the people of West Papua will be in close proximity to Vanimo as they are very far from Jakarta, the Capital of Indonesia.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Justin Tkatchenko who made the announcement said, those from Indonesia will be thoroughly checked at both boarder posts at PNG and Indonesia.
“When the Pope is in Vanimo we will be expecting a couple of thousand of Catholics from West Papua in Indonesia, we will have to make sure that security is up to par, and the Foreign Affairs secretary, with the Defense and the Police have been working closely with the Indonesian Embassy to ensure that all security details are complete and secure for the popes visit and for our boarder operations.
“Because we will be seeing thousands of people crossing the boarder at one particular time to attend to the popes visit, and with the help of immigration as well at our side the PNG Side we must be on full alert, to ensure that all people are checked and have gone through the proper process when crossing over to Papua New Guinea.
“We will be working with the Australians and Indonesians on the intelligence side of things to ensure only those that are attending the Popes visit make it through to Papua New Guinea.
“Security is the number one priority for us we have been handling it on a day to day basis with all our line agencies to ensure we are up to date,” Minister Tkatchenko added.
The Government has committed K10 Million that will go to all the line agencies, to ensure that the papal visit to Papua New Guinea runs smoothly.
Minister Tkatchenko said the visit by Pope Francis is accorded as a state visit and is held with the highest regard for protocol like any other state visit to Papua New Guinea by an independent nation overseas and the Pope being the head of state for Vatican city, which is recognized as a land locked country in the world.
“His holiness Pope Francis is the head of state and he is accorded a state visit and as a head of state he comes as equal as our Governor General, so we keep the level of protocol at the highest order.
“He will receive a 21 gun salute and will be received by our ceremonial guard at the airport and will be accorded everything a state visit is attributed to,” Tkatchenko added.
Pope Francis is 87 years old and despite the many concerns of a long journey to Papua New Guinea, he is determined to visit the Catholic faithful across Asia pacific.
“His health is one of our top priority and he will be coming with his medical team as well, but the Vatican have inspected our private hospitals and hospital facilities, they have already earmarked incase anything happens we have a emergency plan put in place with an evacuation plan to Australia.
“The Pope is still very strong, he does have mobility issues which you will see, but mind body and soul he is determined from the briefing from the Vatican and he is really excited to come to PNG to Vanimo and visiting all the faithful in Papua New Guinea and we look forward to his arrival,” Tkatchenko said
The Pope will arrive on the 6th by Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Airlines, and will leave on the 9th of September for East Timor’s capital Dili on board PNGs National Flag carrier Air Niugini.
