Port Moresby: Pope Francis will visit Papua New Guinea in August, the country’s foreign minister announced on Thursday.
Justin Tkatchenko announced that the government has received a “official note that Pope Francis will visit PNG in August” for a three-day visit.
“We are working closely with the Apostolic Nuncio’s office,” he said. “A team has been assembled and will meet… to look into all aspects of the visit.”
The declaration comes only two weeks after fatal riots erupted in the capital, Port Moresby.
Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the capital and one of two coastal cities in the country’s north.
Papua New Guinea is home to more than nine million Christians — almost all the population — however most Papua New Guineans are protestant and retain many ancient animist beliefs.
A 400-year-old calf-skin-bound volume of the King James Bible is displayed in the heart of the country’s parliament.
The latest papal visit to the country was in 1995, when Pope John Paul II was greeted by tribal dancers dressed in exotic bird plumes, grass skirts, and loincloths.
A papal visit was scheduled for 2020, but was canceled owing to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The announcement comes as a significant boost to embattled Prime Minister James Marape, who has been pressured to resign following riots that killed at least 25 people.
On January 11, enraged crowds tore through Port Moresby, torching parked automobiles, looting grocery stores, and setting fire to structures.
Violence escalated to other sections of the country, with dozens more individuals shot and wounded.
