Pope Francis has called for an end to tribal conflicts that have wracked Papua New Guinea for decades and appealed for equitable development of its natural resources during a visit that also highlighted the country’s problem of violence against women.
Dancers in swishing grass skirts performed for the Pope on Saturday as he opened his first full day in the South Pacific country with a mix of political and church business.
He met with the Governor General and dignitaries from around the region before addressing government authorities and visiting with local priests, nuns and street children.
The Pope is on an 11-day, four-nation tour, the longest and most challenging of his pontificate. He landed on Friday evening in the capital Port Moresby from Jakarta, Indonesia, to open the second leg of his journey.
During his speech to government authorities and diplomats, he marveled at the diversity of Papua New Guinea’s people – there are some 800 languages spoken here – saying their variety must be “a challenge to the Holy Spirit, who creates harmony amid differences!”.
But he also noted that such diversity has long created conflict, a reference to the tribal violence over land and other disputes that have long characterised the country’s culture but have grown more lethal in recent years.
The Pope appealed for a sense of civic responsibility and cooperation to prevail, to benefit everyone.
“It is my particular hope that tribal violence will come to an end, for it causes many victims, prevents people from living in peace and hinders development,” he said.
If people agree to sacrifice their personal interests for the common good, he said, “the necessary forces can be used to improve infrastructure, address the health and educational needs of the population and increase opportunities for dignified work.”
The poor, strategically important Commonwealth nation is home to more than 10 million people, most of whom are subsistence farmers.
Papua New Guinea’s governor general, Bob Bofeng Dadae, referred to the violence in his remarks, calling in particular for the need to protect women and respect their rights. It was a reference to the gender violence that has been normalised in a country where allegations of sorcery are common.
According to UN Women, 60% of the country’s women have experienced physical and or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some time in their lives, double the global average.
Papua New Guinea ranked 151 out of 166 countries on a UN gender inequality index in 2022.
“We want to acknowledge the role of the woman and air the need for protection,” Mr Bofeng Dadae said. “We also recognise the physical and the spiritual care that the church continues to give to those that are being abused, neglected or rejected by families and communities.”
Pope Francis amended his remarks to pick up on the theme, saying women “are the ones who carry the country forward, they give life, build and grow a country, let us not forget the women who are on the front line of human and spiritual development.”
Francis later heard first-hand about the plight of women. A nun told him of the church’s work caring for women who have been attacked and accused of witchcraft and sorcery, and then shunned by their families.
“I think too of the marginalised and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudice and superstition sometimes to the point of having to risk their lives,” Francis said. He urged the church to be particularly close to such people on the peripheries, with “closeness, compassion and tenderness.”
He also called for fair and environmentally sustainable extraction of country’s vast natural resources, which include gold, nickel and natural gas. Disputes over how wealth should be distributed and who is entitled to mining royalties which have often led to conflicts.
On Saturday, Francis was visiting charity workers who care for street children and then meeting Papua New Guinea’s clergy and religious sisters at a Marian sanctuary. On Sunday, he travels deep into the jungle to meet Argentine missionaries.
The 87-year-old is the second pope to visit Papua New Guinea after St John Paul II visited in 1984 and again in 1995 to beatify Peter To Rot, a Catholic layman who was declared a martyr for the faith after he died in prison during World War II.
