Pope Francis landed in Papua New Guinea on Friday evening after departing from Indonesia, marking the second stop in his ambitious 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania. The plane with the Pope and his entourage touched down in Port Moresby, where he will remain for three nights.
Upon arrival, the 87-year-old pontiff, who used a wheelchair to disembark, was greeted on the tarmac by Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso and prominent members of the local Catholic Church. Young children welcomed him with gifts while a military band played the Vatican’s anthem.
Following a short welcome ceremony at the airport, the Pope traveled to the Vatican embassy for the night. He is scheduled to deliver his first public address in Papua New Guinea to political figures on Saturday morning.
During his visit, Francis plans to take a day trip to Vanimo, a town in the northwest, before leaving the country on Monday. His itinerary also includes stops in East Timor and Singapore, with a return to Rome slated for September 13.
In Indonesia, where Francis engaged with the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, he urged leaders to combat religious extremism. He visited Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, and signed a joint declaration with the national grand imam, advocating for collaborative efforts by Catholics and Muslims to address global climate change challenges.
The Pope’s concern for environmental issues is expected to be a key theme during his time in Papua New Guinea, a country that has faced numerous natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, including a landslide in March that claimed at least 2,000 lives.
With his flight to Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis’s total travel for this trip will reach about 16,000 kilometers (approximately 10,000 miles), making it his longest overseas journey to date. By the time he returns to Rome, he will have covered nearly 33,000 kilometers (20,500 miles).