The Vatican estimates there are around 2.5 million Catholics in the country.
Pope Francis is undertaking his longest ever overseas journey with an aim to reach Catholics in the most remote corners of the world and highlight a cause close to his heart - climate change.
Papua New Guinea is a vast and sprawling country of mountains, jungle and rivers with some of the world’s last uncontacted tribes, and a population estimated at anything from nine million to 17 million. A chair had been carved for the ageing pope to use during the Papal Mass to be held at a local football stadium.Papua New Guinea, which is spread over more than 400,000sq km and 600 islands, is home to over 800 languages - some 12 per cent of the world's total.
“Much of Papua New Guinea is still reliant on church institutions to drive their socioeconomic livelihoods and increasingly in developing their economic participation as well,” Mr Henao said.During the 1984 visit of Pope John Paul II to the Western Highlands, rival tribes billeted in dormitories in the mining town engaged in an all-night chanting match, leaving security officials on tenterhooks, fearing an eruption of inter-tribal violence.
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