PORT MORESBY – As Pope Francis prepares to conclude his three-day visit to Papua New Guinea, a country where gender discrimination and involvement in dark magic are both daily struggles, local Catholics said they believe his visit can help bring change.

“It’s an opportunity to personally come out here and see if we can get to at least touch him or shake his hand, it means a lot. As a Catholic, it means a lot to us,” a woman who identified herself as Jacklyn told journalists at the papal Mass in Port Moresby Sunday.

Jacklyn voiced hope that the pope’s visit would help lead to positive change in the country, plagued not only by gender-based violence but also violent crime.

Referring to an appeal Pope Francis made on his first day, calling for women to be respected and promoted, Jacklyn said she believed the pontiff’s words will make a difference.

“In our culture, Papua New Guinea, it’s more of a male being the chief, being the leader, but slowly, slowly in the private sector, they are pushing ladies out,” she said, saying this is also happening in the church.

In many parishes, she said, women are increasingly taking the initiative “because often they tend to appoint men only, they think that us ladies, we can’t lead, but if they could trust us, we can take it on and go forward with it.”

“We need someone, a leader up there, to tell the community, especially the men, to learn to trust your spouse, or your mother, or your sister, and help them if they want to go lead the crowd, just get them out there,” she said.

The fact that Pope Francis is sending this message is especially important, she said, noting that the crowd for his Mass, which authorities estimated to be at least 35,000, was a sign of the influence the Catholic Church has.

Jacklyn also voiced hope that the pope’s visit would help the government to forge stronger relations with the church, and lead to positive changes among political leaders.

“In the PNG government, there’s a lot of politics where people tend to misuse money, they misuse people’s taxation money. We tend to deduct a lot on our taxes, but we don’t really see much development,” she said.

Also attending Pope Francis’s Sunday Mass was a woman who said her name is Julie, who’s from the capital city of Port Moresby and who said she’s been Catholic all her life.

Though she did not have any expectations for the pope’s visit or for the message he would deliver, Julie said she hoped that many people, especially the sick, would find healing, and she also spoke about the dangers of the still-common practice of sorcery and dark magic.

Asked if it was a big problem, Julie said, “Yes, that’s right,” noting that a lot of people, especially in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, are involved in dark magic and witchcraft.

This is “dangerous,” she said, “because they kill people. Very much in the highlands, especially women.”

If dark magic were no longer practiced, it would be a help for women, she said, and voiced her belief that if the pope speaks out against the practice, it would help to eradicate it.

However, asked whether she believed a reduction in these practices would lead a positive change for women in the country – nearly 70 percent of whom face domestic violence, and around half of whom have been raped – Julie simply replied, “Who knows?”

Belief in sorcery or witchcraft is deeply entrenched in many areas of Papua New Guinea in various forms, including both rural and urban areas, and violence related to accusations of sorcery or witchcraft is a widespread problem for the country.

Australia’s High Commission in Papua New Guinea conducted research in two provinces of Papua New Guinea between January 2016 and October 2017, finding that nearly one-third of roughly 150 registered cases of accusations of sorcery or witchcraft ended in violence.

Of these cases, nearly three quarters involved the torture of those who had been accused, and more than one in ten were killed, while over one third were permanently injured.

To help combat the issue, the government in 2015 developed a special program to help curb the violence resulting from allegations of sorcery or witchcraft, called the Sorcery and Witchcraft Accusation Related Violence (SARV) National Action Plan.

That plan involved providing services such as counselling, healthcare and child protection, prevention through advocacy and communication, and legal protection for victims and prosecution for aggressors.

The problem of sorcery and witchcraft was addressed during Pope Francis’s meeting with bishops, clergy, and religious, when a religious sister named Lorena Jenal gave a testimony, speaking about her ministry, the House of Hope in the Diocese of Mendi, the capital of the Southern Highlands Province.

Jenal told Pope Francis that the House of Hope provides security, shelter, hope and healing for those in need due to accusations of witchcraft and sorcery.

“Unfortunately, there are practices of black magic, drug use and money laundering in our country,” she said, saying they work with local police, community leaders, family members and court officials and lawyers to protect women from false accusations and extortion.

She said that so far, they have been able to assist some 250 women and a small group of men, providing a holistic approach including counselling, therapy, and also medical and financial help.

Jenal then recounted the story of a woman named Maria who came to the House of Hope in 2017, having been burnt and tortured to the point of death after being accused of witchcraft.

“We did not know if we could save her life,” Jenal said, saying the woman’s family did not visit her “due to feelings of fear and shame,” so the sisters visited the family weekly and informed them of her progress.

Eventually, Jenal said, Maria’s family realized she was innocent and understood how much she had suffered. Maria was able to return home after six months and is currently working for the House of Hope as an advocate for human rights and for the dignity and quality of women.

Pope Francis alluded to the problem during his brief visit to the remote Diocese of Vanimo Sunday, telling local Catholics to draw near to Jesus and to promote love wherever they go, saying this will help “to drive out fear, superstition and magic from people’s hearts, to put an end to destructive behaviors such as violence, infidelity, exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse.”

Also in attendance Sunday was a man named Faol, who has been Catholic all his life and who flew some 200 kilometers to see the pope.

“I’ve enjoyed seeing my pope, his presence with us. I feel proud, I feel proud to come here for his Mass,” he said, saying, “there’s nothing to say, but in my heart, I feel proud of my pope coming to my country, so I must be present to witness his Mass with us.”

A man named Benedict who sees out of just one eye, and who arrived at the Mass in a wheelchair and with his arm in a sling due to a traffic accident, said he was happy the pope came to Papua New Guinea.

“I want him to give me some blessings,” he said.

Benedict said that as a nine-year-old boy, he saw Pope John Paul II when he visited Papua New Guinea in 1995 and was “fully interested” in seeing Pope Francis too as a cradle Catholic.

A woman named Elizabeth who served as an usher at the pope’s Mass said she also was present when Pope John Paul came, but in 1984 when she was a young woman. She said she greeted John Paul at the airport for his arrival and his departure, and that she was able to stop him and shake his hand as he boarded his plane to leave.

Now a wife and mother, Elizabeth said she participates in a mother’s group at her parish and assists in running many local initiatives. She said she is respected by her pastor as a woman, even though they need his permission to start new projects.

Local Catholics, she said, are happy to see Pope Francis “because he’s the head of the church and we always respect him, because he’s holy, he’s very kind and he likes people, and most of all he likes small children.”

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