Commentary 24/09/16 Of wealth and women, Pope Francis shines a light on PNG

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Of wealth and women, Pope Francis shines a light on PNG

Will a papal challenge for sharing abundant resources fall on deaf ears?

Pope Francis gives some sweets to a musician during a welcome ceremony in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on Sept. 7. (Photo: AFP)

By Luke Hunt

Published: September 16, 2024 11:09 AM GMT

Updated: September 17, 2024 06:52 AM GMT

For a pontiff who prefers not to dabble too deeply in domestic politics when on tour, Pope Francis left a message in Papua New Guinea this month that will be remembered for its clarity and serve as a canon going forward, that wealth earned through resources must be shared equitably.

His four-day tour included Port Moresby, Vanimo on the northwest coast and a Sunday Mass for 40,000 people in a football stadium. Throughout he peppered his sermons and add-libbed talks with the injustices and legitimate complaints faced by his impoverished flock.

Those injustices include horrendous acts of violence against women, domestic abuse, gang rapes and witch hunts, too often justified by traditional prejudices and intertribal conflict, and were told to Francis by nuns who cared for the victims.

The pope urged “closeness, compassion and tenderness,” adding he too thought of those who were “marginalized and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudice and superstition sometimes to the point of having to risk their lives.”

But it’s also a point that undermines efforts to drag this country out of deep poverty. As the pontiff listened; topping legitimate complaints is an intolerably unfair distribution of resources wealth from gold, copper, nickel, natural gas and timber.

Bradley Murg, an affiliate fellow with Pacific Forum, said the pope is unable to influence policy in government, however, in light of the scale of his Sept. 6-9 tour of PNG he was able to frame certain issues and set agendas in regard to the treatment of women and the domestic economy.

"Lack of stability and transparency allows bad actors to fill the gaps or take advantage"

“They are different issues and he bought them together because they’re salient. But between the discussions of natural resources and the question of women’s security in PNG the pope has struck hard on two of the key challenges confronting that country,” he said.

In PNG about 25 percent of its 11 million people live below the poverty line and slightly more than 10 percent have electricity at home. Most people have remained on less than US$2 a day for the last 15 years despite GDP per capita surging by more than a third amid a resources boom.

“Their use or sale ought to benefit the citizens of that country. However, that's certainly easier said than done,” James Rooney, assistant professor of Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University and a Dominican friar, told UCA News.

“Many such countries have lots of resources and opportunities but their citizens do not benefit, not simply because of greed either by government officials or multinational corporations — but because there are systematic problems with government transparency and stability in those regions.

“Lack of stability and transparency allows bad actors to fill the gaps or take advantage. Improving transparency, rule of law, and stability seems to me key in ensuring that the Catholic social vision is achieved,” he said.

Empowering women has also been seen as a widely practiced tool for lifting families out of poverty among the least developed countries over recent decades. Gender equality by 2030 has also been a mainstay for the United Nations under its Sustainable Goals policy.

"Sixty percent of women have experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner"

However, progress is slow. As the UN noted, at the current rate it will take 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to remove discriminatory laws, 140 years to achieve equality in the workplace, and 47 years to find a fair gender balance in national parliaments.

In PNG, the UN says 60 percent of women have experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner, double the global average. Allegations of sorcery against women are common in a country ranked 151 out of 166 on the 2022 gender inequality index.

These imbalances are greatest in the peripheries — those outlying and remote areas of the Church like Vanimo — where Francis was encouraging collective well-being over personal interests while advocating for better healthcare, education, infrastructure, and jobs.

Resources in PNG "are destined by God for the entire community," he said, and even if "outside experts and large international companies must be involved in harnessing these resources," those people should not be the only ones who benefit.

The pope delivered a similar message in Madagascar five years ago.

Observers in PNG — where 90 percent of the population is Christian and 30 percent are Catholic — said the pope’s message would also resonate with Catholics across Asia, Africa and Latin America, where poverty rates and gender equality alsoremain stubbornly high.

"Francis’ papacy has been strongly hallmarked by his focus on the social doctrine of the Church"

It should also resonate with the big mining houses in Australia, Canada, and China which have tapped PNG’s resources, and the local politicians who bear ultimate responsibility for government policies that range from the division of that wealth to gender equality.

“Francis’ papacy has been strongly hallmarked by his focus on the social doctrine of the Church much more so than his recent predecessors,” Murg said.

“The pope’s comments will undoubtedly be welcome news to civil society groups who have been asking the tough questions about what are the benefits of resource economics for PNG’s population as a whole. And the treatment of women is close to his heart,” he said.

It remains a message squarely aimed at big business and government officials who have exploited PNG's abundant natural resources — this country boasts the world’s third largest rainforest cover after the Amazon and Congo — for the benefit of their own.

“They, whether it’s those in business or politics at the local and national level, may well be listening when the pontiff is in-country but will they act once he’s gone?” Murg said.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.