'Blessed' Papua New Guinea welcomes pope during landmark tour

Over mountains, by air, and by sea, pilgrims have flocked to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea's capital where Pope Francis landed late Friday on a landmark visit.

The 87-year-old pontiff will spend four days and three nights in one of the Pacific's poorest and most troubled nations, addressing politicians and bishops, meeting street children, and travelling to the remote jungle outpost of Vanimo.

He will hold mass for tens of thousands of the faithful in the capital, people such as Josephine Gofeau who describe his visit as a "blessing" that has brought "peace and harmony" to a country that is short on both.

Once-dusty roads have been swept, street hawkers cleared away and yellow-and-white Vatican flags flutter from lampposts under the warm breeze of the Coral Sea.

Among the gathering masses are 43 pilgrims who travelled by foot from the north coast to the south, traversing dense jungle and the formidable central cordillera, a journey measured in weeks, not days.

The trip was less arduous for others, but no less transformative.

Sophie Balbal travelled from the island of New Britain to represent a group of mothers.

"This is my very first time in my life to travel on a plane and to come to Port Moresby," she told AFP excitedly.

"Whatever message he passes on to us, I will try my best to pass it on to my fellow mothers, all the mamas in our parish."

- Social ills -

Papua New Guinea is devoutly Christian but suffers from poverty, rampant domestic abuse, bloody witch hunts and murderous tribal violence in which thousands have been killed and tens of thousands displaced.

Human Rights Watch has dubbed Papua New Guinea "one of the most dangerous places to be a woman or girl". By some estimates, 80 percent of women have been subjected to violence by their partners.

In the country's Highlands, false accusations of sorcery frequently prompt violent witch hunts that kill or maim victims.

The under-resourced police service, which has 6,000 officers for a country of 12 million people, has been unable to stem the violence.

So for Philip Gibbs, a New Zealand-born priest who arrived in Papua New Guinea as a missionary 50 years ago and now leads the Divine Word University, the pope's visit is a golden opportunity to tackle the issue head-on.

"The bishops have made sure that he's been briefed on that, definitely," he told AFP. "I'm quite confident that it will come into one of his speeches."

For many in Papua New Guinea, the church is synonymous with healthcare, education and welfare that the state does not provide.

There is great hope that the church can also bring peace, where the state cannot.

"We have our own issues in the country, the most important thing that we aspire to have for our country and for ourselves is peace, for our people to be united," said pilgrim Ted Mea.

With "the presence of the Pope in our land, we hope that blessings can come to our land, and our leaders", he said.

- Church and state -

However, the relationship between church and state may also be one of the more contentious issues facing the pope on his visit.

An estimated 98 percent of Papua New Guineans are Christian and about 25 percent are Catholic.

But those figures belie the rich blend of beliefs and customs in a nation that has more than 850 distinctive ethnolinguistic groups.

Many Papua New Guineans believe deeply in a Christian god as well as a panoply of animist beliefs that sit alongside still-strong Indigenous customs.

That blended identity is embodied in Prime Minister James Marape, the son of a Seventh-day Adventist preacher, and a leader who rarely answers his phone on the Saturday Sabbath.

Marape is also a leader of the Huli people, one of Papua New Guinea's largest Highland tribes.

He has said Christianity defines the nation, while proudly donning his tribe's ceremonial loincloths and its distinctive bicorned wig made from the owner's own hair and adorned with the feathers of exotic birds.

The Pope's visit is likely to rekindle debate about changing Papua New Guinea's constitution, making it an explicitly Christian nation.

The country's constitution reflects both facets of the country, with a promise to safeguard its "noble traditions and the Christian principles that are ours now".