John Ribat News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

While the country is getting ready to welcome Pope Francis in September, amendments have been proposed to assert the country’s Christian identity. For the Catholic Bishops' Conference, this is a “dangerous” step that “obscures and even erases our unique Melanesian identity [. . .] rather than acknowledge, celebrate and perfect it through the Gospel”. The backers of the constitutional changes are the same groups that got the King James Bible inside parliament in 2015, promising “blessings and riches”.

A round-up of news in brief from around the region, including Fijian kava producers facing competition from the United States.

POPE Francis, head of the Catholic Church visit to PNG is now pushed back to September this year.

GRAND Chief Sir Michael Somare is not buried at Independence Hill, Port Moresby, next to Parliament House where at least two Prime Ministers are buried.

The death toll from the 10 January unrest has risen to 22 people. The country faces socio-economic collapse. For Fr Giorgio Licini, Secretary General of the Bishops' Conference of Papua New Guinea, “The common citizens, the Churches, the State, and the government are equally responsible.”