Pope’s Southeast Asia and Oceania Tour 2nd leg lands him in Papua New Guinea; 7 detained for making threats to disrupt the papal event

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Pope Francis arrived in Papua New Guinea on Sept 6 as part of the second leg of his Southeast Asia and Oceania tour, the Associate Press (AP) News reports.

The 87-year-old arrived from Jakarta, Indonesia, after a 6-hour flight. While he was on the flight, Jakarta police reported that they had detained seven people from Java and Sumatra on suspicion of making threats on social media.

The detained individuals threatened to endanger lives during the papal events and wanted to disrupt the Pope’s security protocol.

Indonesian police counterterrorism squad official Aswin Siregar said that the threats appeared to be more for publicity than anything else, but the police would investigate nevertheless.

The Pope was in Jakarta for three days and had a mass on Thursday afternoon attended by more than 100,000. The event was held at two sports stadiums, and the crowd also used the parking lot due to space constraints.

“Don’t tire of dreaming and building a civilization of peace. Be builders of hope. Be builders of peace,” AP quoted the Pope as saying to the crowd.

There are 8.9 million Catholics in Indonesia, making up 3% of the population. The highlight of his Indonesian visit was signing a joint declaration with the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque to end religious violence and protect the environment.

In Papua New Guinea, the Pope will meet the governor general and speak to government authorities and diplomats. He will also meet children from two charity homes and talk to the country’s bishops, priests and religious sisters at a Marian sanctuary.

Tribal conflicts plague Papua New Guinea, which has over 800 indigenous cultures. Francis will travel to Vamino to check in on Catholic missionaries trying to spread the Catholic faith to tribals in the region.

Francis was the second pope to visit Papua New Guinea after St John Paul II, who visited in 1984 and 1995. Francis will visit East Timor and Singapore before he returns to the Vatican on Sept 13.

Featured image: Depositphotos