Pope's unfulfilled wish: Declaring PNG's first saint

In one of his final acts, Pope Francis cleared the way for Papua New Guinea (PNG) to get its first saint an anti-polygamy preacher who died in prison during Japan's World War II occupation.

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The late pontiff confided to religious leaders in the Pacific nation that he wanted to personally oversee the canonisation of “martyr” Peter To Rot. Now, that honour will fall to his successor.

“He told me that he wanted to canonise Peter To Rot himself,” said Tomas Ravaioli, an Argentine missionary in Papua New Guinea who met with the pope when he visited in September last year.

'Not a superhero'

“He said that To Rot is the kind of saint that people need in this moment. You know, he’s not a priest or a bishop he’s a normal man,” Ravaioli said.

“It’s very sad for us because we were expecting him to canonise Peter To Rot.”