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Pope Francis shows up in Papua New Guinea, country two of 12-day journey

Pope Francis got here in Papua New Guinea on Friday night from Indonesia, where the 87yearold leader of the international Catholic Church will continue an enthusiastic 12day tour throughout Southeast Asia and Oceania.

The Garuda Indonesia plane bring the pope and his entourage showed up in Port Moresby, the Papua New Guinean capital, where he will stay for the next 3 nights.

The pontiff, leaving the aircraft using his wheelchair, was satisfied on the tarmac by Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso and senior members of the Catholic Church in the country.

Local children presented him with presents as a military band played the anthem of the Vatican.

After the short ceremony at the airport, Francis headed to the Vatican embassy for the evening. His very first public occasion in the country will be an address to political leaders on Saturday morning.

While in PNG Francis will make an outing to the northwestern town of Vanimo, before leaving the nation on Monday. He is then scheduled to check out East Timor and Singapore before returning to Rome on Sept. 13.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, Francis prompted political leaders to defend against spiritual extremism.

The pope likewise went to Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia's. biggest, and signed a joint statement with the national grand. imam. The statement called for decisive action by Catholics. and Muslims to urge worldwide leaders to challenge the threats of. environment modification.

The warming world is anticipated to remain a focus for the. pope's see in Papua New Guinea, where politicians have. blamed environment modification for a wave of natural disasters,. consisting of a landslide in March that killed a minimum of 2,000. people.

The pope has actually stressed the importance of environmental problems. throughout his 11-year papacy.

With Friday's flight, the pope will have travelled about. 16,000 km

(source: Reuters)