Happy Birthday, Mother Mary! 🎉

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (CNS) -- Building enthusiasm for living and sharing the Christian faith is not a matter of "techniques" but of being joyful and serving others, Pope Francis said.

In an afternoon devoted to the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea Sept. 7, the pope visited with some of the most vulnerable members of society, the Catholics who care for them, and with the country's bishops, priests, religious, seminarians and catechists.

He started at the Caritas Technical Secondary School in Port Moresby, meeting some 800 students as well as children who were living on the streets and children and adults with disabilities who are assisted by the Callan Services network.

Clemens, who cannot hear and signed while his sister, Genevieve, spoke, said to the pope, "Holy Father, I would like to ask you, first: Why do we have to suffer with our disability? Two: Why am I not able like others? Three: Why this suffering? Four: Is there hope for us, too?"

A young girl said that just having the meeting showed how much the pope loves the street children, "even though we are not productive, sometimes we are troublemakers, we roam around the streets and become (a) burden for others."

"I would like to ask you Holy Father, why we do not have opportunities like other kids do and how we can make ourselves useful to make our world more beautiful and happy even if we live in abandonment and poverty?" she asked.

Calling the children's questions "challenging," the pope responded that every person is unique, and each has talents and difficulties, but God has a mission for each person based on loving others and knowing how to accept love.

"To give love, always, and to welcome with open arms the love we receive from the people we care about: this is the most beautiful and most important thing in our life, in any condition and for any person -- even for the pope," he told the children.

"None of us are a 'burden,' as you said," the pope responded. "We are all beautiful gifts from God, a treasure for one another!"

Pope Francis ended the afternoon at the city's Shrine of Mary Help of Christians by listening to churchworkers share the joys and challenges of their ministries, including efforts to help people -- usually women or children -- who endure torture and even face death after being accused of witchcraft.

Sister Lorena Jenal, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Divine Providence, told Pope Francis about one of the 250 women her House of Hope has helped.

"Maria came to us in 2017," Sister Jenal said. "She was so badly tortured and burnt that we did not know if we could save her life."

But, she said, "today she is working in our team standing up for human rights and the dignity and equality of women. She witnesses to the importance of love and forgiveness among all people."

Father Emmanuel Moku, a self-described "late vocation" who was ordained 12 years ago at the age of 52, told the pope that "my clan expects a man to become a father and to work and feed his people. As a seminarian, I was therefore viewed as unfruitful. This made me feel hopeless."

But after ordination his family was proud to have a priest in the clan, he said. "Only then was I relieved of the pressure of my cultural norms."

Grace Wrakia, a laywoman who is a member of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, told the pope that she is not sure how long it will take for the church in Papua New Guinea to become truly synodal.

"But it would only take a few men in a strongly paternal society such as mine to believe in and support a woman in order to see her rise above her traditional status in society and bring about change," she said.

"I want to see change where women are partners and cooperators, where young people are not ignored or neglected but received with open hearts and minds, where priests and religious work as partners and not as competitors, where priests and consecrated men are not regarded as 'big men' but as servant leaders," she said.

Pope Francis encouraged all of them to hold fast and keep trying, inspired by the missionaries who arrived in Papua New Guinea in the mid-1800s. "The first steps of their ministry were not easy. Indeed, some attempts failed. However, they did not give up; with great faith, apostolic zeal and many sacrifices, they continued to preach the Gospel and serve their brothers and sisters, starting again many times whenever they failed."

More than anything, the pope said, those who truly want to be missionary disciples of Jesus must start at "the peripheries of this country" with "people belonging to the most deprived segments of urban populations, as well as those who live in the most remote and abandoned areas, where sometimes basic necessities are lacking."

"I think too of the marginalized and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudice and superstition, sometimes to the point of having to risk their lives," the pope said. "The church desires especially to be close to these brothers and sisters, because in them Jesus is present in a special way."

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Regina (Reine) (d. 286). She, after undergoing many cruel torments, was beheaded for the faith at Aliza. Aliza was formerly a large town called Alexia, famous for the siege which Caesar laid to it, now a small village in the diocese of Autun in Burgundy. Her martyrdom happened in the persecution of Decius, in 251, or under Maximian Herecleus in 286, as different Martyrologies disagree. She is honored in many ancient Martyrologies. Her relics are kept with great devotion in the neighboring abbey of Flavigni, a league distant, whither they were translated in 864, and where they have been rendered famous by miracles and pilgrimages, of which a history is published by two monks of that abbey. --Butler's Lives of the Saints

"What is God's purpose for your life?" Henrie says. "Once you know what that is, you just keep going and you don't give up."

Why does the devil fear a humble woman more than anything else?

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (CNS) -- With a 21-cannon salute, Pope Francis was welcomed to Papua New Guinea Sept. 6, the second stop on his four-nation visit to Asia and the Pacific.

After flying five and a half hours from Jakarta, Indonesia, the 87-year-old pope landed at Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby and was greeted with flowers from children wearing traditional dress.

John Rosso, Papua New Guinea's deputy prime minister, led the official welcome ceremony, which featured the cannon salute, a review of the honor guard, the playing of the Vatican and Papua New Guinean national anthems and the presentation of their respective delegations.

Although the pope landed an hour after sunset, the roads from the airport were lined with thousands of people hoping to see him. Many held long-handled, battery-powered candles.

Unlike Indonesia, where Christians are a small minority, in Papua New Guinea an estimated 98% of the population is Christian. According to Vatican statistics, Catholics represent about 31% of the nation's 8.2 million people.

With Pope Francis the Pacific-island nation was hosting its third papal visit; St. John Paul II visited in 1984 and again in 1995.

Papua New Guinea is known as a land of hundreds of ethnic groups living in remote areas and speaking their own languages; it is rich in natural resources, including gold, copper and natural gas, but one-third of the population lives below the poverty line.

The nation, and particularly Port Moresby, has been plagued by crime and gang violence for decades. In January, riots broke out over a cut in the salaries of public workers.

Pope Francis' itinerary for his trip Sept. 2-13 focused only on the capitals of Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Singapore. But in Papua New Guinea, the pope wants to visit a community of missionaries from Argentina ministering in and around the town of Vanimo in the northwest, so that was added to the schedule.

The trip to the outpost will give Pope Francis an opportunity to pay tribute to the generations of foreign missionaries who have and continue to share the Gospel with the people of Papua New Guinea through their preaching and religious education, but also through their schools, orphanages, hospitals and work for justice and the safeguarding of creation.

Papua New Guinea illustrates the connection Pope Francis often highlights between "the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth," a situation where minerals are extracted, forests denuded and energy supplies sold off to the financial benefit of only a handful of people, leaving the poor with a scarred and barren landscape.

The Roman Martyrology today commemorates St. Eleutherius, abbot (d. 585) of St. Mark's monastery near Spoleto in the Italian province of Perugia, he was the friend of St. Gregory who mentions him several times in his Dialogues. He died around the year 585.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNS) -- While members of every religion must be free to profess and practice their faith, they also should recognize that members of other religions have that right, too, and they all are searching for God, Pope Francis said.

Nasaruddin Umar, the grand imam of the Istiqlal Mosque, welcomed the pope to the mosque compound Sept. 5 and led him directly to the "tunnel of friendship," a wide underground walkway that connects the mosque and the Catholic cathedral across the busy street.

Like the pope, the imam was dressed in white from head to toe and greeted Pope Francis with a kiss on the cheek. At the end of the meeting, Umar put an arm around the pope's shoulder and kissed him on the top of the head. Pope Francis, who was seated in his wheelchair, took the imam's hand and kissed it.

Earlier, facing the entrance to the tunnel, Pope Francis had told the imam and donors who helped build it, "When we think of a tunnel, we might easily imagine a dark pathway. This could be frightening, especially if we are alone. Yet here it is different, for everything is illuminated."

"I would like to tell you, however, that you are the light that illuminates it," the pope said, "and you do so by your friendship, by the harmony you cultivate, the support you give each other, and by journeying together, which leads you in the end toward the fullness of light."

The pope and imam signed "The Istiqlal Declaration," a short document committing members of both religious communities to defending human dignity, especially when threatened with violence, and to defending the integrity of creation.

"The values shared by our religious traditions should be effectively promoted in order to defeat the culture of violence and indifference afflicting our world," the declaration said. "Indeed, religious values should be directed toward promoting a culture of respect, dignity, compassion, reconciliation and fraternal solidarity in order to overcome both dehumanization and environmental destruction."

Engkus Ruswana, a leader of Majelis Luhur Kepercayaan Indonesia, an organization for followers of Indigenous religions, said his faith's priority "is humanity and community, and the relationship between the human and nature. Indigenous religions, you know, have a good relationship between human beings and nature. Our principle is that we have to care for the Earth, for the world."

In a large tent draped with the white and red colors of the Indonesian flag, Ruswana joined the imam, the pope and other representatives of the country's religious communities, including Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Confucians.

The formal meeting began with the chanting of a passage from the Quran by Kayla Nur Syahwa, 16, who won a national Quran recitation contest for children with disabilities, and a reading from the Gospels by a Catholic priest.

Pope Francis asked the religious leaders to consider how the tunnel can be a metaphor for the faith life of Indonesians by providing a meeting ground between the prayer spaces of two communities.

The tunnel, he said, should be a sign that "all of us, together, each cultivating his or her own spirituality and practicing his or her religion, may walk in search of God and contribute to building open societies, founded on reciprocal respect and mutual love, capable of protecting against rigidity, fundamentalism and extremism, which are always dangerous and never justifiable."

"The visible aspects of religions -- the rites, practices and so on -- are a heritage that must be protected and respected," the pope said. "However, we could say that what lies 'underneath,' what runs underground, like the 'tunnel of friendship,' is the one root common to all religious sensitivities: the quest for an encounter with the divine, the thirst for the infinite that the Almighty has placed in our hearts, the search for a greater joy and a life stronger than any type of death, which animates the journey of our lives and impels us to step out of ourselves to encounter God."

The Rev. Kriese Anki Gosal, a Presbyterian minister and vice general secretary of the Communion of Churches, the main ecumenical body in Indonesia, said, "The visit of the pope is very amazing for us. We want to have our pope's message."

When asked about using "our" to refer to the pope, she said, "He is the pope of all people. He has messages we must pass on," whether one is a Catholic or not, a Christian or not.

The Rev. Jacklevyn Manuputty, general secretary of the ecumenical group that includes 97 churches and Christian communities, insisted Christians -- who make up about 10% of Indonesia's population -- are not minorities. "We are citizens, not minorities. 'Majority-minority' are political terms that can and have been misused."

"We are living in one of the most diverse countries in the world, so dialogue is our lifestyle," he said. "All over the world there is a growing tendency of populism and identity politics based on race or religion -- dialogue is how we promote authenticity."

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), affectionally called "Mother Teresa." Nun, missionary and teacher in Calcutta, India and foundress of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. She received the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and the Missionaries today work in 30 countries.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNS) -- The Christian call to share the Gospel is not about trying to win converts at all costs, but about living in a way that exudes Christian joy and always treats others with respect, Pope Francis told churchworkers in Indonesia.

"Proclaiming the Gospel does not mean imposing our faith or placing it in opposition to that of others, but giving and sharing the joy of encountering Christ, always with great respect and fraternal affection for everyone," the pope told bishops, priests, religious and catechists at a meeting Sept. 4.

Pope Francis asked Indonesian Catholics to be "prophets of communion in a world where the tendency to divide, impose and provoke each other seems to be constantly increasing."

Welcoming Pope Francis to Jakarta's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunyamin of Bandung, president of the Indonesian bishops' conference, told him the bishops hope his visit will prompt Catholics to "increasingly seek an encounter with God that manifests the joy of the Gospel, creates a culture of encounter in which we see others as a brother or sister, and restores the integrity of creation by listening to the cry of the poor and of the earth, our common home."

In his speech to the group, Pope Francis focused on the theme the bishops chose for his visit: "Faith -- Fraternity -- Compassion."

Those Christian values, he said, can coincide easily with "Pancasila," Indonesia's founding philosophy that emphasizes five principles: belief in one God, a just and civilized citizenry, unity, democracy and social justice.

Indonesia has some 276 million people and about 87% of them are Muslim, according to government statistics. The Vatican estimates that 3% of the population is Catholic, which equates to about 8.3 million people.

Father Pilifur Junianto, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, traveled from Batam to meet the pope. He said Catholics in Indonesia practice "silaturahmi," which "means we encounter others -- other religions, other cultures. We visit each other on our feast days," especially when members of the same family or close neighbors belong to different religions.

"As Catholics, we are focused on its meaning as universal -- we can accept others," he said. "Our main service as Catholics is education -- schools and universities. We can influence all our students," including many who are not Catholic. "That way we can help implement 'Pancasila.'"

Brother Ivan, a member of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mercy, who does not use his last name, said it was overwhelming to be in the cathedral with Pope Francis, who is "very humble and an amazing pope."

Although for the most part, hundreds of women religious sat on one side of the church while priests and brothers sat on the other, Brother Ivan sat with the Sisters of Our Lady of Amersfoort who run the school where he teaches. The sisters declined an interview request as they waited for vespers to begin.

Schoenstatt Father Matius Pawai, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Jakarta, was seated near the back of the cathedral. The priests and sisters near the front, he said, arrived at 11:30 a.m. for the 4:30 p.m. meeting with the pope; he didn't arrive until noon when the temperature hit 93 degrees Fahrenheit.

After a woman and a young man gave brief testimonies about their ministries as catechists, Pope Francis told the crowd that catechists have the most important role in the church, followed by religious sisters, then priests and bishops. It was just one of many off-the-cuff comments the 87-year-old pope made during the meeting.

Pope Francis told the churchworkers that Indonesia's natural beauty should remind people that God gives human beings all good things. "There is not an inch of the marvelous Indonesian territory, nor a moment in the lives of its millions of inhabitants that is not a gift from God, a sign of his gratuitous and everlasting love as Father."

"Looking at all we have been given with the humble eyes of children helps us to believe, to recognize ourselves as small and beloved and to cultivate feelings of gratitude and responsibility," he told them.

The variety found in humanity also is a gift from God, he said, and a call to live as brothers and sisters with all. "No two drops of water are alike, nor are two brothers or sisters, not even twins are completely identical. Living out fraternity, then, means welcoming each other, recognizing each other as equal in diversity."

Faith and recognizing each other as brothers and sisters, the pope said, must lead to compassion -- not just giving alms to the poor, but drawing close to them, helping them stand and fighting for justice on their behalf.

"This doesn't mean being a communist," he said. "It means charity -- love."

"What keeps the world going is not the calculations of self-interest, which generally end up destroying creation and dividing communities," the pope said, "but offering charity to others. Compassion does not cloud the true vision of life. On the contrary, it makes us see things better, in the light of love."