THE news about the canonizing of the Blessed Peter ToRot as a saint hood has brought joy to many Catholic faithfuls, reflecting the journey of faith in the Catholic Church.
In a media conference on Friday 4th of April, His Eminence Cardinal John Ribat reflected on the person he (ToRot) was when serving as a missionary upholding his strong faith and love for doing the work of what many Catholics do today.
“So the whole church of Papua New Guinea and the people of good will are all rejoicing about this,” said Cardinal Ribat.
“And it’s really about the faith; If he was a person who believed in Jesus, all of us, all Christians are believers of Christ.”
“This is really great news for us, people of Papua New Guinea and people of good will throughout the nation,” he expressed.
All other leaders including President of the Catholic Bishop Conference of PNG & Solomon Islands Bishop Otto Separi, Bishop Rozario Menezes, Reverend Fr. Lawrence Arockiaraj and President Paul Harricknen were all present on Friday to show their appreciation and gratitude as a church.
According to General Secretary of the Catholic Bishop Conference of PNGSI Fr. Arockiaraj, they will convene the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 29th April in Madang.
He said they will have more discussions on the preparation and event celebration.
Fr. Arockiaraj thanked Fr. Rochus Tatamai and the hardworking leaders for working behind the scene initiating the procedures to actually reaching out to the office in Rome.
Bishop Separi pointed out in his remarks that it is the prayer of the members of the church for Blessed Peter ToRot to be a saint hood as he said the procedure itself involves a lot of discussions and documenting.
He encouraged the Catholic members to behold the historic moment and celebrate in jubilant holding up their faith and hope to move forward.
“I must say that, I think we prayed a lot for the Blessed Peter ToRot and it happened. No matter what, wind and rain come we must stand firm like blessed Peter ToRot,” Bishop Separi encouraged the Catholic members.