Pope Francis will visit Papua New Guinea from September 6 to 9 as part of an 11-day trip to several countries in Oceania. However, he will not be the first pontiff to set foot in the island nation: Saint John Paul II visited the island in 1984 and 1995.
Papua New Guinea (PNG), encompassing the eastern half of a southwestern Pacific island, is home to nearly 9 million people. It is considered one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, as it is inhabited by hundreds of indigenous ethnic groups with 851 languages of their own.
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Almost the entire island is inhabited by Christians, of which 26% are Catholic.
The travels of Saint John Paul II
Saint John Paul II visited Papua New Guinea for the first time in May 1984 and paid tribute to the strength of Catholicism on the island. During his visit, he celebrated Masses for vocations, for the sick and for evangelization. He also addressed the young people, the bishops, the clergy, the religious and the laity.
In the Mass for vocations At the Port Moresby Stadium, in the capital of Papua New Guinea, Saint John Paul II highlighted the history of the missionaries who came to the island bringing the Catholic faith.
“At this moment, my thoughts turn particularly to the missionaries: to those who first brought the message of Christ to these islands and to those who continue to serve here today,” he said on May 7, 1984. “It is not “It is possible to tell the whole story of the Gospel in Papua New Guinea, but I want to pay tribute to the sacred story of evangelization,” he said.
The Pope recalled the first attempt at evangelization by the Marists in 1847, who were forced to leave. Five years later, PIME missionaries arrived, but they were also forced to leave after three years of work on the island.
It was not until the arrival of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1882 that the island experienced a new era of “uninterrupted evangelization,” explained the Polish Pope.
In 1885, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart took their missionary work to a new area of the island, this time along the coastal area known as Papua. It was there, on July 4, where “the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered to God for the first time on Papuan soil,” the saint recalled.
During his farewell to the island on May 10, 1984, the Holy Father said: “I have witnessed how the Catholic faith has taken deep roots in this land and has begun to bear fruit in generous measure. “I see great hope for the future of the Church in Papua New Guinea.”
Saint John Paul II returned to the island for the second time in 1995. This time to beatify Papua New Guinea’s first blessed, Peter To Rot.
Peter To Rot was a Catholic who served as a catechist in his village after the Japanese army took the priest to a labor camp during World War II. The priest told the future blessed: “Help them, so that they do not forget God.”
Despite Japanese oppression, To Rot worked secretly to maintain the faith. He was a great supporter of Christian marriage, working to challenge Japanese law, which allowed men to take a second wife.
Towards the end of the war, the rules against religious freedom became even stricter and any type of prayer was prohibited. To Rot was arrested and sent to a manual labor camp in 1944 for his continued disobedience. In 1945 he was murdered by lethal injection and is considered a martyr to the Catholic faith.
In the beatification masson January 17, 1995, Saint John Paul II said that To Rot’s evangelizing testimony “inspired others, in very difficult situations, because he lived his Christian life in a pure and joyful way.”
He added: “Blessed Peter understood the value of suffering. Inspired by his faith in Christ, he was a devoted husband, loving father, and dedicated catechist, known for his kindness, gentleness, and compassion. The daily Mass and Holy Communion, and the frequent visits to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, sustained him, gave him wisdom to counsel the discouraged and courage to persevere until death.”
The pontiff urged the faithful to “always remember Peter To Rot. You must always think of his faith; You must always think about his life in the family; You must always think about his work as a catechist. Because Peter To Rot shows us the way. “He shows the way to all of us, but especially to the families here in Papua New Guinea and to the young people and to all those men and women who preach the word of God to the people.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Francesca Pollio Fenton
Francesca Pollio Fenton is the Social Media Manager at Catholic News Agency. She received her bachelor’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in Digital Media from the University of Colorado, Denver (United States).