JOINT STATEMENT BY PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM CHAIR, HON DR. AISAKE VALU EKE AND SECRETARY GENERAL BARON WAQA
22 April 2025
The Pacific Pays Tribute to His Holiness Pope Francis
The Pacific Islands Forum joins families, communities, and nations across the Pacific and worldwide in mourning the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis.
His Holiness was a voice of compassion, justice, and unity in a world too often divided. As a global spiritual leader, he stood with the most vulnerable, called for the protection of our planet, and championed the dignity and rights of every person. His messages of peace and ecological justice resonated profoundly across the Pacific, where the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are a lived reality.
In November 2017, Pacific Islands Forum Leaders had the distinct honour of meeting the late Pope Francis at Vatican City. His Holiness’ heartfelt address to the Forum Leaders acknowledged the existential threats faced by our Blue Pacific region, especially rising sea levels and intensifying climate events. It was a message that continues to echo powerfully through our ongoing climate advocacy.
The historic visit by His Holiness to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific left an indelible mark on our Pacific people. Speaking directly to our Pacific communities, His Holiness honoured the richness of our Pacific cultures and the strength of our spiritual traditions. He urged all leaders — political, community, and spiritual — to pursue peace, protect natural resources, and ensure that development truly benefit our people.
We also remember His Holiness as a leader defined by empathy and humility. He was not only a spiritual guide but a moral compass — one who understood the intersection of science, faith, and humanity. In choosing the name Francis, after the patron saint of ecology, His Holiness committed himself to a mission that spoke deeply to our region’s values of stewardship, intergenerational equity, and oceanic identity.
The absence of His Holiness will be deeply felt in our Blue Pacific region. On behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum, we extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to our Pacific and global Catholic community, and to all who mourn his passing.
We honour the late Pope Francis as a true friend to the Pacific, — one who walked with us, listened to us, and inspired us to hope, care, and act for a better, more united world.
[ENDS]
