The 8th of September was an unforgettable day for the faithful of Vanimo: finally, the Vicar of Christ and Successor of St. Peter would personally come to visit us. According to the original plans, the Holy Father would leave POM at 1:30 pm, arriving in Vanimo at 2:30 pm, and return around 6:00 pm, just before sunset. However, at 11:00 am on the same day, we received a message saying that the Holy Father had specifically requested to bring the flight forward and leave POM earlier so that he could spend more time in Vanimo. The Holy Father left POM at 12:00 pm and landed in Vanimo shortly after 2:00 pm.
(The Holy Father with the IVE missionaries...Picture supplied)
I believe it is necessary to divide his visit to Vanimo into its two main events: the gathering at the field with all the faithful, priests, and religious of the diocese, and his visit to Baro, the headquarters where the IVE Fathers are located.
1) The gathering at the field
The Vanimo field is located about 200 meters from the airport and in just in front of the cathedral, so only a few minutes passed between the landing and the arrival of the Holy Father to the field. The Vanimo field was absolutely packed with people. In all my years of mission in Vanimo, I had never seen so many people gathered in that place! The people from the bush had started coming a week in advance, and every night there were talks, prayers, and confessions in that very field, in preparation for the big event. Bishop Francis Meli gave a welcome and thank you speech to the Pope, and afterward, some testimonies were given by a variety of people (children, young people, couples, catechists, religious, etc.), where they shared with the Holy Father about life in Vanimo, their joys and sorrows. After the testimonies, the Holy Father addressed a few brief words to the faithful, encouraging them to remain faithful to Christ and to take care of the beautiful nature surrounding them, as it is a gift from God.
After his speech, something moving took place: all those present made a prayer of Consecration to Jesus through the intercession of Mary, placing the diocese, the missionaries, families, and children under the maternal care of our Blessed Mother in Heaven. After the prayer, the Holy Father presented Mary with a golden rose as a sign of filial love. The offering of the golden rose is a tradition over a thousand years old. Initially, it was given by the Popes to distinguished personalities for their good works and devotion. However, for several decades now, that privilege has been reserved for Mary, and only she receives the golden rose. The image of the Virgin chosen for the offering was the image of Our Lady of Lujan, the patroness of Argentina, which arrived in PNG 25 years ago and is kept in the chapel of the IVE fathers in Vanimo. An exact replica of the original image can be seen in the CBC chapel, next to the tabernacle.
2) The visit to Baro
After the gathering at the field, the Holy Father traveled by car to Baro, the parish of the IVE fathers in Vanimo. The parish consists of five villages along the coast and many communities in the bush. It also has two primary schools and one secondary school. The secondary school, in fact, was built thanks to the financial help of the Pope himself.
The car ride took about 15 minutes. As soon as the Pope arrived in Baro, one of the Vatican gendarmerie guards told me: “From this moment on, this is no longer considered a visit from a Head of State but a personal and private visit of the Holy Father to a group of missionaries. Therefore, the security protocols are different. He has absolute freedom to move around.” And indeed, that was the case. The visit was completely informal, without any formal protocols or prepared speeches. On the contrary, the Holy Father allowed everyone to come close to embrace, kiss, and touch him. He had an assistant with two large bags: one filled with candies for the children, and the other with rosaries for the adults.
The Holy Father greeted the students from our schools, listened to three songs from the parish children’s orchestra (two songs were prepared, but the Pope asked for one more!), and then went up on an improvised stage where 25 replicas of the Virgin of Lujan awaited his blessing, which would later be distributed to all the mission stations where the Fathers work.
After the blessing, we took the Holy Father to our haus pater. It felt like a dream to see the Vicar of Christ entering the haus pater! There, we had a private meeting with him that lasted about 30 minutes. During the meeting, we shared some typical Argentine food with him since five of the IVE fathers in PNG are Argentinians, just like the Pope. In fact, two of us are from his same city. The private conversation was entirely informal: he gave us some advice, shared many funny anecdotes, and we laughed quite a lot. He was also interested in the status of the Canonization Cause of Blessed Peter To Rot and asked how the work was progressing. Once again, he expressed his desire to canonize him.
After the conversation with the Fathers, the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara sisters (SSVM Sisters, the female branch of the IVE Fathers) also entered the house and had the opportunity to listen to him. The Holy Father was very pleased to see the first local vocations of the IVE and the SSVM, and encouraged us to continue working in that direction.
By this time, it was almost 5:30 PM, and the plane had to depart at 6:00 pm. One of the Pope’s assistants approached him and showed him the time, and the Pope told us it was time to leave. We took some photos, and he left for the airport.
In total, the visit to Vanimo lasted almost 4 hours: from 2:00 pm to almost 6:00 pm. Of those 4 hours, the gathering at the field lasted one hour, and the rest of the time was spent in Baro.
It is important to highlight the immense generosity and charity of the Holy Father in wanting to come to Vanimo. He spent more time traveling (4 hours in total, 2 going and 2 returning) than visiting the city. It was a great physical effort, given his age, fragile health, the different time zones, and the many activities he undertakes daily. Despite the many material and logistical difficulties surrounding the visit, he wanted to be present.
Without a doubt, it will be an unforgettable day for everyone.
(The Holy Father meeting with the IVE Missionaries...Picture supplied)
Commentaires