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On Sunday, Pope Francis travelled to a secluded community surrounded by jungle in Papua New Guinea. During his visit, he petitioned for an end to violence and he also spoke against the “superstition and magic” that he feels taints the area, which he compared to Eden.
The pontiff, who is 87 years old, arrived in Vanimo, a coastal town a little south of the equator, during his challenging 12-day journey through the Asia-Pacific region.
Despite the stifling tropical heat, the pope wore a traditional Bird of Paradise feathered headdress as a symbol of his commitment to embracing people and places on “the periphery”.
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He described Vanimo as a “grandiose spectacle of nature bursting forth with life, all evoking the image of Eden”.
Bare-chested Walsa tribesmen with body paint, ornate headdresses, and bands made of feathers, shells, and grass greeted him as a guest of honor, performing a ceremonial dance.
The thousands assembled were thanked by the pope, with some having walked or sailed for days to come and see him. He also commended the local children’s “contagious smiles and exuberant joy.”
But he also painted this as a troubled paradise.
He urged the faithful and a handful of local missionaries to help “overcome divisions — personal, family and tribal” and “to drive out fear, superstition and magic from people’s hearts”.
These and other evils, he said, “imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters, even in this country”.
Papua New Guinea’s population of 12 million is comprised of over 90 percent individuals who identify as Christian, with approximately one-quarter of them practicing Catholicism.
But the religion sits alongside a panoply of local beliefs, customs and rites — some of which spark bloody zeal.
Pockets of Papua New Guinea are plagued by tribal violence and deeply rooted beliefs about the existence of witchcraft.
Village mobs routinely round up those falsely accused of black magic, usually women, murdering them in gruesome ordeals.
