For decades, the Catholic Church has presented itself as a moral ally of Indigenous peoples.
From Laudato Si', in which Pope Francis defended ancestral lands, to Vatican endorsements of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Church has framed the protection of Indigenous communities as a matter of justice, dignity and faith.
That global moral posture makes what is now unfolding in Papua deeply unsettling.
In Indonesia’s easternmost region, a senior Catholic leader is facing fierce opposition from his own congregation for supporting a government-backed food mega-project that threatens Indigenous land.
The controversy erupted after Archbishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi of Merauke warned that Catholics protesting the project would “perish.” His comment ignited outrage among Papuan Catholics and exposed a profound contradiction between the Church’s teachings and its actions on the ground.
In Papua — a region long scarred by land dispossession, militarization and resource extraction — the Church’s stance is never merely theological. It is political, moral and deeply consequential.
Mandagi’s words force an unavoidable question: Will the Church in Papua live up to its global teachings by standing with Indigenous communities defending their ancestral land, or will it align itself with state power and corporate interests under the banner of development and food security?
The archbishop’s remarks were delivered during a church inauguration Mass on April 6, in response to peaceful weekly protests led by lay Catholics opposing his support for a massive food estate designated by Jakarta as a national strategic project.
“God destroys those who do not respect places of worship,” Mandagi told them.
For many Papuan Catholics, the statement felt less like spiritual guidance than a threat — one issued from the pulpit against those invoking their faith to defend their land and livelihoods.
The backlash was immediate. Expressions of pain and anger flooded social media as lay Catholics accused the archbishop of silencing dissent rather than shepherding his flock.
Yet the furor did not arise overnight. Since 2024, Mandagi’s vocal endorsement of the project has prompted sustained protests demanding that he withdraw his support and apologize.
Rather than easing tensions, his latest remarks have widened the rift, transforming internal disagreement into an open moral confrontation.
At the heart of the dispute is a government food project that aims to clear up to 3 million hectares of land in Merauke — two-thirds for sugarcane and the rest for rice. The administration of Prabowo Subianto has presented the initiative as essential to Indonesia’s food sovereignty.
But the land is far from empty. It is the ancestral territory of the Malind, Maklew, Khimaima and Yei peoples — forested wetlands where life depends on sago groves, rivers and seasonal hunting.
More than 50,000 Indigenous residents across 40 villages are expected to be affected. Deforestation is already underway. By the end of 2025, nearly 6,000 hectares had been cleared for rice cultivation, while sugarcane plantations destroyed more than 15,000 hectares in early 2026 alone.
While urban Catholic youth stage demonstrations inside churches, Indigenous communities have mounted their own form of resistance.
Across Merauke, villagers have planted red crosses — salib merah — on land earmarked for clearing, asserting ownership and erecting a spiritual barrier against destruction.
The symbolism is striking: Catholic imagery deployed by Indigenous people themselves, yet without the backing of the Church’s hierarchy.
Bishop Bernardus Bofitwos Baru of Timika, for example, has repeatedly described food estate projects as existential threats to Indigenous communities.
The controversy also recalls the failure of an earlier mega-project: the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate, launched in 2010 and eventually abandoned after widespread displacement and ecological damage.
The contrast with Mandagi’s leadership is stark. Shortly after his appointment, in January 2021, he signed a memorandum of understanding with a palm oil company linked to the controversial Korindo Group to renovate a seminary — without meaningful consultation with local communities.
The dangers posed by the current project extend far beyond land loss.
In 2025, Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission identified at least five areas of concern: land rights, environmental health, food security, participation in decision-making and personal security.
Militarization is the most acute threat. Troops have been deployed to secure project sites, with military posts established near Indigenous villages.
In 2025, a battalion was stationed inside a company concession on the ancestral land of the Kwipalo clan from the Yei tribal group without consent. When villagers blocked excavators, they faced police reports and threats of criminal charges.
The United Nations has also raised the alarm. In March 2025, nine UN special rapporteurs warned Indonesia of alleged land grabbing, forced evictions, deforestation and military repression linked to the project.
The pattern is familiar: sweeping promises of food security, land acquisition enforced by armed force and the displacement of Indigenous peoples — echoing colonial plantation models rather than participatory development.
It is here that the Church in Papua stands at a crossroads.
One path prioritizes harmony with state power, reframes Indigenous resistance as disorder and recasts dispossession as progress — risking the erosion of decades of moral authority.
The other is grounded in Catholic social teaching: standing with communities whose land, culture and survival are under threat.
The Papuan Catholics who protest week after week are not enemies of the Church. They are its conscience
The question is whether the Church hierarchy will heed that call — or allow the words uttered from the pulpit to define its legacy.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
T he National Commission on Human Rights said Sunday it was investigating the killings of 12 civilians, including women and children, in a military operation in the restive Papua region. The commission said at least 12 civilians died of gunshot wounds when the armed forces carried out "an enforcement operation" on Tuesday against a rebel group in the central Papuan village of Kembru. Several other people were wounded.
Commission chairperson Anis Hidayah told AFP there was a "strong suspicion" that Indonesian soldiers may be responsible for the civilian deaths. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Aulia Dwi Nasrullah said in a statement that four rebel fighters had been "neutralised" in Kembru, without mentioning the civilian deaths.
The statement added that the armed forces were looking into reports of a child killed by gunshot wounds in another village, saying "there was no involvement" of Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers in that incident.
The rights commission, an official but independent body, said that any operation that results in civilian casualties "cannot be justified on any grounds". "Any form of attack against civilians... constitutes a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law," the commission said in a statement on Saturday. It urged restraint from all sides and called on the military to re-evaluate its operations against Papuan rebels.
The Papuan rebel group said 12 civilians had been killed by military operations. TNI's Habema taskforce carried out an operation on April 14 in Puncak region after receiving reports from civilians about the presence of rebels in their village, taskforce spokesperson Lt. Col. Wirya Arthadiguna told Reuters. Four rebels were killed during the operation in Kembru village, and there was a report of a child dying from a gunshot during an unrelated incident in a nearby village, Wirya said.
"No military personnel were present at that village at the time of the shooting of the child, and the two incidents took place at different locations and times and are not connected,” he said. Popular Govt insists on growth target as World Bank lowers forecast Europe’s skepticism about US firms reaches Asia Sovereignty concerns loom over new security pact with US
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