By Claudia Torres
“The most important thing is to open ourselves to God and our brothers and sisters, and to open ourselves to the Gospel, making it the compass of our lives.” Pope Francis’ affirmation during Holy Mass in Papua New Guinea, on Sunday, Sep 8 2024, was not just a fanciful notion. For him it was a guiding principle, the same one that impelled him to travel from Rome to Port Moresby, less than a year before his death, to share the joy of the Gospel with his brothers and sisters far away.
The late Pope’s 45th Apostolic Journey abroad is one which the Archbishop of Port Moresby remembers fondly. Cardinal John Ribat, MSC, travelled from Papua New Guinea to Rome to attend Pope Francis’ funeral on Apr 26, and to participate in the Conclave which elected Pope Leo XIV. In a wide-ranging interview, the Missionary of the Sacred Heart shared his gratitude for the late Pope Francis, as well as his hopes for the new pontiff.
“We have seen how Pope Francis has journeyed with us”, said the Cardinal, referring to the 47 Apostolic Journeys the late Pope completed outside of Italy during his 12-year pontificate. “One approach that he took was to go out to the peripheries, and that’s what he did”, he said. In just under two weeks, from Sep 2-13, Francis travelled to two continents, Oceania and Asia, making stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.
Cardinal Ribat, whom Pope Francis created as the first Cardinal from Papua New Guinea in 2016, noted that the late Pope also created cardinals from three other countries he visited last September: Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo from Indonesia, Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, the first Cardinal from East Timor, and William Seng Chye Goh, the first Cardinal from Singapore. It was another gesture which affirmed the Argentine pontiff’s conviction that although PNG and the wider Pacific region were “far from Rome”, they were “so close to the heart of the Catholic Church” (Meeting with the Authorities, Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Sep 7 2024).
Now, with Pope Leo XIV as the new leader of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Ribat said, “It is very important that we come together as cardinals with the Pope because we are his creation. We are his creation because he wanted us to be of help to him, and Pope Francis, he created cardinals in the peripheries… and his intention was not to leave anyone out but to bring us all in together to be united, as Church, from different parts of the world”. That’s why he hopes that there will be even more collaboration and meetings among the cardinals in the future, to address the Church’s most pressing challenges.
Cardinal Ribat also shared that his hope for the Pope Leo XIV is “that he’ll continue in that direction, reaching out to the Church” and to “churches throughout the world”. He hopes that by so doing, the new Successor of Peter will be able to lead “in confidence to live our faith in this very challenging time, and stand for the truth – and our truth and our hope is Christ himself – in this very fast-changing world”. – Vatican News
