This handout picture taken and released on September 8, 2024 by the Vatican Press Office shows Pope Francis blessing a child at the Holy Trinity Humanities School in Baro, Papua New Guinea. Photo by Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea— Pope Francis opened up about the travails of his post with young worshippers in Papua New Guinea on Monday, telling them “this job is not easy”.
The 87-year-old pontiff, who is halfway through a 12-day trip across the Asia-Pacific region, appeared spritely and jovial as he wrapped up a four-day stop in Papua New Guinea with an audience back-and-forth.
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At the end of planned remarks about problems faced by the young, the pope encouraged the estimated 10,000 people assembled to repeatedly shout out a call to help others.
At the end of the address in Port Moresby’s Sir John Guise stadium, he also suggested the crowd needed to pray, and they should in particular pray for him.
“This job is not easy,” he told them, briefly breaking from Italian into English.
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There had been worries about how the wheelchair-bound octogenarian would manage such a long-haul trip.
But, after several days on the road, he appeared to confound those fears.
Thanking the audience for a “beautiful encounter”, he left the stadium to audience cries of “viva santo papa!”.
The pontiff will travel onwards Monday to East Timor’s capital Dili.