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.
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.
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