Pope Francis has honoured the Catholic Church of the peripheries as he celebrated mass in Papua New Guinea before heading to a remote part of the Pacific nation with a tonne of humanitarian aid to deliver to the missionaries and faithful.
An estimated 35,000 people filled the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby for Sunday morning mass. It began with dancers in grass skirts and feathered headdresses performing to traditional drum beats as priests in green vestments processed up onto the altar.
In his homily, the Pope told the crowd that they may well feel themselves distant from both their faith and the institutional church, but that God was near to them.
"You who live on this large island in the Pacific Ocean may sometimes have thought of yourselves as a far away and distant land, situated at the edge of the world," he said.
"Yet … today the Lord wants to draw near to you, to break down distances, to let you know that you are at the centre of his heart and that each one of you is important to him."
Indigenous performers play in front of the Pope in Port Moresby. (EPA PHOTO)
Francis was himself travelling to a distant land on Sunday, flying into remote Vanimo, on PNG's northwest coast, to meet with the small Catholic community served by missionaries from his native Argentina.
The Pope was being transported by an Australian military aircraft and was bringing with him one ton of humanitarian aid, including medicine, clothes and toys for children, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.
Eight suitcases of medicine and other necessities had been prepared by one of the Argentine missionaries, the Reverend Alejandro Diaz, during a recent trip to Rome and left with the Vatican to bring in on the cargo plane, the ANSA news agency reported.
The Pope has long prioritised the church on the "peripheries," saying it is actually more important than the centre of the institutional church. In keeping with that philosophy, Francis has largely shunned foreign trips to European capitals, preferring instead far-flung communities where Catholics are often a minority.
Vanimo, population 11,000, certainly fits the bill. Located near Papua New Guinea's border with Indonesia, the coastal city is perhaps best known as a surfing destination.
There are about 2.5 million Catholics in Papua New Guinea, according to Vatican statistics, out of a population in the Commonwealth nation believed to be around 10 million. The Catholics practice the faith along with traditional Indigenous beliefs, including animism and sorcery.
The Pope's trip to Vanimo was the highlight of his visit to Papua New Guinea, the second leg of his four-nation tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania. After first stopping in Indonesia, Francis heads on Monday to East Timor and then wraps up his visit in Singapore later in the week.