In a recent homily in Melbourne, Bishop Hitlon Deakin has called for solidarity with West Papua, and was presented with a support letter from Pope Benedict XVI.

Below are extracts from an article published by Catholic News:

A Melbourne bishop well known for his support for Timorese people, Bishop Hilton Deakin, is calling on Australians to remember the role played by Papuans in assisting Australia during World War II and has urged Australia to resist human rights abuses in the region.

Giving the homily at the inaugural Asmat Mass for West Papua recently, Bishop Deakin called for Australians "to remember West Papua and draw upon all the memories that we can to further their cause".

At the service, people from West Papua also presented Bishop Deakin with a letter for Pope Benedict.

Noting that there are "political affairs, national affairs, and international affairs that affect the people of West Papua", Bishop Deakin said that "some people believe that all these sectional aspects, and only these sectional aspects, define the place for any legitimate comment that one may make about the people of West Papua, of their present condition, and their future."

"But I come from a tradition that says 'no' to that. I believe that it is a limiting way of tackling the issue. It's a reductionist way. But it is a way that somehow or another attracts people today," Bishop Deakin said.

[…]

"Those of you who have fled from that oppression and are here with us today […] can give a virile testimony for such degrading conditions in your homeland without a doubt, as indeed you have.

"The sufferings, the rapes, the bashings, the lack of due legal process, the murders, the suppression of indigenous culture, and the imposition of a foreign culture."

We must admit that we all have a great capacity to ignore these sorts of things; to say, when they are brought to mind, 'we didn't know'. We have been saying those things forever and ever.

"We did it during the Second World War, even in Australia, over the holocaust. We can see it being so blatantly done at the present time over, what I think, is an invasion of Aboriginal communities across the top end of Australia.

"In all of this, let us pray that the West Papuan people never lose heart," Bishop Deakin concluded.