https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/pacific/pac-pope-vanimo-09082024071956.html#:~:text=Fifteen%20buses%20from%20Indonesia's%20restive,passengers%20to%20see%20the%20pope.
2024.09.08
Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, and Melbourne
A visit by the head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis to a small remote town in north-west Papua New Guinea has seen an historic opening of the land border with Indonesia.
Fifteen buses from Indonesia’s restive Papua provinces were given special permission on Sunday to cross into PNG carrying 300 mainly Catholic passengers to see the pope.
Francis was flown from Port Moresby to Vanimo aboard an Australia air force C-130 transport plane and greeted by an estimated 20,000 singing and dancing faithful in front of the local cathedral.
He met with the local Catholic community, missionaries from his Argentinian homeland working there and was presented with a traditional feathered headdress.
Vanimo, on the north-west coast of the country, is close to the 750-kilometer long border that divides New Guinea in half, separating PNG from Indonesia’s Papuan provinces.
The historic order to allow the buses across the border was given by Indonesian Consul Tangkuman Alexander Immanuel and PNG Consul General Geoffrey Wiri.
“It has never officially opened before,” border liaison officer Veronica Norotou, from Indonesia’s Jayapura city, told BenarNews, saying she hoped it was a sign of future positive cooperation with the PNG government.
Last year Papua New Guinea ratified the border agreement with Indonesia after almost a decade’s delay, with both countries hopeful it would improve relations through trade and cross-border visits.
Indonesia took control of the western half of New Guinea from the Dutch in the early 1960s. An armed insurgency by indigenous Papuans against Indonesian rule has continued for decades, with the West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB) at times seeking refuge inside PNG.
The Pacific island country’s government says it recognizes Indonesia’s sovereignty over the Papuan territory.
“The Holy Father’s visit has opened up the road from the west to the east Jayapura and Vanimo,” said Cathy Nere, who is from Indonesia’s Papuan provinces and lives in Vanimo, adding the pope’s visit was a boost for peace between both PNG and Indonesian.
Earlier in the day, Francis celebrated mass at the Sir John Guise Stadium in the capital Port Moresby in front of an estimated crowd of 35,000 worshipers.
The pope was left waiting beforehand when the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape failed to show up for a scheduled early morning meeting.
Bishop Rozario Menezes, chair of the Papal Visit Committee, told the Post Courier newspaper the pope waited for Marape but the meeting did not occur.
“We feel there is a lack of respect for the pope,” Bishop Menezes said.
“The Prime Minister is the head of state; he was not here on Friday or Saturday, he did not attend APEC and today he did not attend the meeting as per the program either.”
The prime minister’s office told BenarNews that Marape met the pope at the Holy Mass and not as scheduled due to a change of timing and venue.
The pope’s visit to Vanimo came on the second full day of his trip to PNG, on the second leg of his Southeast Asia and Oceania tour. He is scheduled to leave PNG on Monday morning for East Timor followed by Singapore.
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