By Joshua McElwee
PORT MORESBY (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrived in Papua New Guinea on Friday night from Indonesia, the place the 87-year-old chief of the worldwide Catholic Church will proceed an bold 12-day tour throughout Southeast Asia and Oceania.
The Garuda Indonesia airplane carrying the pope and his entourage arrived in Port Moresby, the Papua New Guinean capital, the place he’ll keep for the following three nights.
The pontiff, departing the airplane utilizing his wheelchair, was met on the tarmac by Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso and senior members of the Catholic Church within the nation.
Native youngsters introduced him with items as a navy band performed the anthem of the Vatican.
After the temporary ceremony on the airport, Francis headed to the Vatican embassy for the night. His first public occasion within the nation can be an deal with to political leaders on Saturday morning.
Whereas in PNG Francis will make a day journey to the northwestern city of Vanimo, earlier than departing the nation on Monday. He’s then scheduled to go to East Timor and Singapore earlier than returning to Rome on Sept. 13.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, Francis urged political leaders to protect towards non secular extremism.
The pope additionally visited Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, and signed a joint declaration with the nationwide grand imam. The assertion known as for “decisive action” by Catholics and Muslims to induce world leaders to confront the hazards of local weather change.
The warming planet is anticipated to stay a spotlight for the pope’s go to in Papua New Guinea, the place political leaders have blamed local weather change for a spate of pure disasters, together with a landslide in March that killed at the very least 2,000 folks.
The pope has careworn the significance of environmental points all through his 11-year papacy.
With Friday’s flight, the pope could have travelled about 16,000 km (about 10,000 miles) on the abroad journey, his longest but. By the point he returns to Rome, he could have clocked almost 33,000 km (20,500 miles).
(This story has been corrected to say deputy prime minister, not prime minister, in paragraph 3)