PAPUA NEW GUINEA
SPEECH BY
HIS EXCELLENCY, Grand Chief Sir Bob Bofeng Dadae GCL GCMG KSTJ
Governor General of Papua New Guinea On the occasion of The official visit of His Holiness Pope Francis
On Saturday 7th September, 2024
Your Holiness,
On behalf of the Government and People of Papua New Guinea, I welcome to this beautiful country. Your presence here is a testament to the enduring spirit of faith that brings us together across oceans and continents, and I am honoured to receive you today.
As you know, the first Catholic Missionaries were the Marist, they arrived in 1845, and settled in the beautiful Woodlark and Rooke Islands.
139 years later, having fully established the seed of the Catholic faith, your predecessor the Holy Father Pope John Paul II, visited the country in 1984, and again in 1995.
This year is the 179th year of the presence of the Catholic Church in PNG, and you are here with us. As a country, we are very grateful.
Your Holiness, the Catholic Church is amongst the key development partners of the government in service delivery in the country.
Our government recognizes the strong contribution of the Church in supporting children, communities, future church leaders across education, health and spiritual care.
We appreciate the global leadership in advocacy that the Vatican continues to provide on the global humanitarian issues like war, human rights, gender issues, climate change, health and education.
Your Holiness,
Life is a right to human beings as created by God, and we believe it has to be recognized and lived holistically in peace and harmony.
The very act of God when He took the ribs from the man and created the woman, exemplified the indiscriminate connection of gender as equal and rights of women to be recognized and respected. Similarly, to accord respect deserved by children, the elderly, people with special needs and the most vulnerable in our society.
We want to acknowledge the role of women and emphasize on the need for protection. A female is not just a mere gender, but a special gift from God, to bear a nation, and like mother nature, she keeps and sustains humanity.
Your Holiness, in a world of greed and turmoil, your voice will be better heard by the world over, to love and respect the rise of women in a free world.
We are happy to convey that the Catholic Church has been very active in advocating against violence and human rights abuse in the country.
We also recognize 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.
Like any other country, there are cases of violence in PNG too, and in your presence, we want to remind our citizens to observe the moral values and ethical principles that defines us Christians, and recommit to love and peaceful co-existence in our society.
Your Holiness, climate change is real. The rise in the sea-level is affecting the livelihoods of our people in the remote islands of PNG, and across the Pacific. We appreciate the work of the Catholic Missionaries, and those from other Christian faith, who continue to serve those that are affected by climate change.
The experience across the Pacific is that Islands are sinking, people are affected and displaced, while the world continues to talk “Solution”. For this reason, we seek your prayers and support for global action and advocacy on Climate Change. We want the world to know that there is no more time for discussion. What the world need is “Commitment for Action.”
Your Holiness, we also want to thank you for the work of the Church to take the health and education services to the remotest places of the country.
Our inspiration is the dedicated life of service of the missionaries of the Catholic Church across the length and breadth of this beautiful country. This is truly an embodiment of the enduring love and compassion of God for humanity.
Our government is intensifying efforts to strengthen the existing partnerships through funding support, institutional alignment and other State-Church collaborative arrangements. As a government, we continue to fund church run institutions.
We truly value this partnership and affirm support to the work of the Catholic Church and other Christian churches in the country.
As you bless our land with your presence, we are filled with profound gratitude and humility, as can be seen through the magnitude of pilgrimage to the city just to get a glimpse of Your Holiness.
We know that your visit will leave an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of all our citizens.
We pray that the seeds of faith, hope, and love that you sow here will bear fruit for generations to come.
Please pray for Papua New Guinea, its democracy, its leadership and pray for people to turn to God at a time when there is rise of atheism in the world.
May you also pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in the Pacific some of their leaders are represented here also.
We thank you for choosing to visit Papua New Guinea, and wish you the blessings of peace and comfort, and hope that you will enjoy the warm gracious hospitality of your Church, the government and people of Papua New Guinea.
Thank you,
Grand Chief Sir Bob Bofeng Dadae GCL GCMG KStJ
Governor General of Papua New Guinea
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