Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has this afternoon offered a warm welcome to Pope Fran- cis in expectation of his visit to the country beginning tomorrow Friday, saying the people of Papua New Guinea are ready to welcome His Holiness to PNG.
Prime Minister Marape said Papua New Guinea does not treat the papal visit lightly considering the Pontiff is visiting in his dual role as the head of the Vatican, and Bishop of the biggest Christian denomination in the world – the Roman Catholic Church, taking into account his advanced age.
“Papua New Guinea is ready to welcome His Holiness, Pope Francis, to our country. I want to appreciate him and the Vatican for choosing to visit us amidst his very busy schedule.
“I call on all our people to unite and put on the best welcome to receive the Pontiff who visits us in his dual role as the head of the Vatican and Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.
“When the country is on the eve of our 49th anniversary and as we prepare to move into our 50th anniversary as a nation next year, it is an honour to be visited by leaders of our churches. Early this year, we were visited by the leader of the Seventh Day Adventist Church worldwide, and now the leader of the Catholic Church,” said PM Marape.
The Prime Minister reiterated the significance of Christian living within PNG society and the relevance of Christian tenets to nation-building.
“As a nation, we cannot live outside our Christian virtues. The fundamental tenets of Christianity call for unity, peace, tolerance, forgiveness, love, care, and doing unto others what you want done unto you. These are deeply ingrained in the Christian worldview.
“In our nation of vast ethnic and linguistic diversities, we find commonality and unity in Christianity. It is our uniting force, and we must celebrate it and adhere to it in our daily lives as we co-exist with each other,” he said.
The Prime Minister further acknowledged the work of the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea preceding Independence and post-Independence to this day.
“The Catholic Church arrived as early as 1845 in PNG, and taught our parochially tribalistic people to open up, to embrace people from other tribes and cultures, and helped unite our people into one. The Catholic Church assisted government to bring in development, and today, continue to contribute to nation-building in health, education and in their various programmes and projects that they run today,” said PM Marape.
Prime Minister Marape and Mrs Rachael Marape will meet the Pontiff on Sunday morning before Pope Francis leads a church service planned on Sunday.
Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. John Rosso, will preside over the events from the arrival of the Pontiff on Friday evening, as he arrives in the evening as the Prime Minister retreats for his observation of the Sabbath which begins on Friday evening and ends on Saturday evening.
Ministers have been assigned on duty and most of the ministers and Members of Parliament have been tasked to attend the meetings with the Pontiff.
Prime Minister Marape will farewell the Pope on Monday morning as he departs from Port Moresby.