PNG priests and religious share hopes for papal visit
By Linda Bordoni and Christopher Wells
Pope Francis’ visit to Papua New Guinea has been “very significant” for the priests, consecrated men and women, and catechists who labour to spread the Gospel in the Pacific Island nation, says Father Paul Sireh, the first Papua New Guinean to be ordained a Carmelite priest.
On the sidelines of the Holy Father’s encounter with Bishops, clergy, religious, and catechists on Saturday, Father Sireh told Vatican News' Linda Bordoni that the papal journey has united the clergy and religious of the country.
“It’s very significant for our faith,” he said, adding that he hoped that the Pope’s strength would help strengthen them.
To hear the voice of the Pope
Sister Shirley, a Filipino missionary working in the Solomon Islands, echoed his words. “We’ve come here to see the Pope and to hear the voice of the Pope,” she said, "in order to be strengthened in their faith as consecrated religious.”
“We also need to be strengthened in the spiritual way that the Pope now is giving us, the spiritual message for us,” she added.
A great motivation
Sister Jadwiga Faliszek, a Polish missionary who serves as National Health Secretary for Catholic Church Health Services (CCHS) in Papua New Guinea, told our correspondent she hoped to be “empowered” by the Pope’s words.
She said the Pope’s visit is a “great motivation” for them and offers a “spiritual renewal” to be “more open and give more energy and more prayer for the missions” pastoral workers are undertaking.
She added that “absolutely everyone is excited” for the Pope’s visit, no matter their religion. “And everyone has big hope for some changes. Everyone wants to hear, to touch, even to be on the ground, to stand on the ground where the Holy Father is present.”
Sister Jadwiga said she hopes to meet Pope Francis after the Holy Mass on Sunday, saying she wants to thank him personally for the large donations from the Vatican that arrived in Papua New Guinea during the Covid crisis. “I hope tomorrow I will have a chance to shake his hands and thank him personally,” she said.
An example of service
Father Pat McIndoe, a Passionist priest who has served in Papua New Guinea for more than thirty years, said the Pope’s visit might not seem significant at first glance, but was in fact “very, very important.”
“I think it will give people a certain pride if it goes as well as it seems to be going,” he said, adding, “I hope it’ll give them a greater sense of pride and who we are” and “a greater sense of unity for the country.”
He said that as priest, he looks "for a deepening of our spiritual life, of the love of Christ and bringing love to people, of people being of service to one another.”
He highlighted Pope Francis’ example of service, noting that despite the Holy Father’s difficulty in walking, “he’s put himself out there to serve people.”
That, said Fr McIndoe, “is what we all need to do.”
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