Country counts down days to Pope visit

The country is counting down the days towards the much-anticipated visit by the Holy father, Pope Francis to the country on Friday 6th September.

It’s exactly 3 days until Pope Francis makes his historic 4-days visit.

The Catholic church is preparing a visit fit for the head of the Church, and in close consultation with the Government.

Chairman of the Papal visit committee Bishop Rozario Menezes told NBC Television’s current affairs program, Pope Francis represents the disciples of Christ.

Bishop Rozario explains that the theme of “Pray” for the Pope’s visit stems from the disciples desire for Jesus to teach them to pray and that is what PNG as a country is trying to get from the visit.

He says the answer for the disciples is the “Our Father” prayer - a prayer common across the land:

"So, we specifically chose this theme of prayer to help us to understand, help us to make effort to feel that as Papua New Guineans, we are one family. We call one nation, one people, and then we want to be one family.

"So, irrespective of which church I belong, irrespective of our denomination, we all have Jesus as our Lord, and we call him our Lord and brother, who taught us to call God as our father.

So, for us, the visit of the Pope here in our country should inspire us to become a family. Pope being the head of the church" Bishop Rozario said.

Bishop Rozario Menezes clarified that Pope Francis visit is a pastoral visit as head of the Catholic church and representing the Apostle Peter - on which the Church is built.

He says the Pope’s Visit is not only for catholics but for everyone.

He urged Papua New Guineans through the Holy Father’s visit to take stock of their lives, and how they relate to themselves and others:

"As we read these days, there is lot of negativities even on the social media. We want that this experience of meeting the Pope, a spiritual leader, may help us to change our outlook about our life, change our outlook about our relationship with our brothers and sisters.

"We are living in the same country; we are breathing the same air. So, our hope is that this event will help us to feel that we are one family as being Papua New Guineans. So, that is our desire that this event will help us to live", the Bishop said.

Catholics journey to capital city for Pope visit

Catholic faithfuls from across the country are making this journey of faith to be in Port Moresby, participating in the visit by the Holy Father Pope Francis.

Chairman of the Papal visit committee Bishop Rozario Menezes told NBC Television’s current affairs program, those from the Highlands and from the New Guinea islands region have begun arriving in the capital city:

"From my own diocese from Menyamya, about 22 of them. They are walking for one week. So many people from different dioceses, like Bougainville, it is very expensive.

"Air Niugini ticket is about K3000. So, they are making lots of sacrifices to be part of this event. They are all excited and then they are doing lots of sacrifices.

"Even from Lae itself, there are over 200 people who want to be part of this. So, there are people who want to be present during this event. Not for momentary but to live that experience even after the event is over", Bishop Rozario said.