VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis confronted discrimination against women and girls in society at large, but particularly in the Catholic Church, where positions of leadership and authority belong nearly entirely to men.
Francis landed Friday (Sept. 6) in Port Moresby, capital of the Oceanian nation that is his second stop of his four-country trip through Southeast Asia. Papua New Guinea is a majority Christian country, with 26% of the inhabitants identifying as Catholic.
After the customary meeting with the diplomatic and political leadership in the country on Saturday, Francis joined Governor General Robert Dadae in making an appeal to protect women and girls in the country, who are widely barred from leadership positions. Domestic violence and sexual abuse are also rampant in the country, with nearly 70% of women reporting they’ve experienced domestic abuse. Over 50% of women say they have been victims of rape, according to a UNICEF study. The country came second to last in the United Nations Gender Inequality Index.
“Let’s not forget, they are the ones who carry the country forward. They give life, build and grow a country. Let us not forget the women who are on the front line of human and spiritual development,” Francis said. In the afternoon, he reinforced his point by visiting the Caritas Technical Secondary School, which caters to young girls and women with disabilities.
Dadae echoed the pope’s appeal, describing women as “a special gift from God to bear a nation,” saying his government intends to “emphasize the role of women and their need for protection.” He said his government intends to “emphasize the role of women and their need for protection,” pointing to his attempts to implement laws and policies aimed at protecting the rights of women in the country.
But later in the day, in a meeting with the country’s Catholic bishops in the afternoon, Francis was directly challenged about women’s roles in the Catholic Church.
After a greeting by Cardinal John Ribat, the first Papua New Guinean cleric to be given a red hat, the pope heard testimonies from local Catholics. One of them was Grace Wrakia, a single mother of three who participated in the meeting of the Synod on Synodality in Rome in 2023. Wrakia said that participating in discussions at the synod “gave me, a lay woman, a voice,” but she was skeptical about synodality taking root in the patriarchal society of Papua New Guinea.
