Just as the row over tariffs with the US and the EU intensifies, China is preparing to lift the last retaliatory measure still in place against Australia, Australian Prime Minister Albanese announced. In two years in office, the Australian leader has mended ties, keeping trade with China distinct from geopolitical issues.

In the general audience held today in St Peter's Square, Francis retraced the stages of the apostolic journey that in recent days has taken him to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. "I met living communities that grow by attraction. It gladdened my heart to be able to spend some time with the missionaries and catechists of today’.

Videos posted online show fires and families displaced by the presence of what the authorities call "illegal miners”, migrants from neighbouring areas who came to dig for gold. Local landowners get proceeds from the Porgera mine, one of the richest in the world, as compensation for environmental damage. Various groups have clashed over the mine, a scourge Pope Francis denounced a few days ago during his visit.

The appeal at the Angelus at the end of the Mass celebrated at the Port Moresby stadium. The message to the Papuan faithful: ‘You are not isolated, the Lord is close here too’. In the extreme frontier of Vanimo the meeting with the missionaries, recalling the example of the martyr John Mazzucconi, ready to do anything to bring the Gospel's message of salvation. Along with that of the local catechist Peter To Rot, also blessed, who gave his life to defend the unity of the family.

The city where the pontiff will go tomorrow is located in a particularly remote area. Francis has expressly asked to add this stop to be able to meet the faithful of the diocese, but also the priests and religious of the Argentine Institute of the Incarnate Word in the parish of Baro, where he has contributed to the construction of a secondary school. The presence of Indonesian missionaries also among those who fled from across the border.

In the Oceania archipelago marked by intensive exploitation by large multinationals, the pontiff urges ‘sustainable and equitable development’. The call  to the political community to work together so that the ‘tribal violence that causes many victims’ may cease. The invitation to the Church to have the strength to ‘always begin again’, to reach the most remote physical and human peripheries, including the victims of witchcraft accusations. The call to the blessed martyrs John Mazzucconi and Peter To Rot.