Pilgrimage Sites in Papua New Guinea

Pope Leo XIV canonised Peter To Rot in St. Peter's Square on 19 October 2025, naming him a saint of the universal Church alongside six others. He is the first canonised saint of Papua New Guinea and the first indigenous Pacific Islander raised to the altars — a village catechist put to death by Japanese forces in 1945.

Pilgrims reach Rakunai, the village where he was born, along the road that climbs from Kokopo toward the interior of the Gazelle Peninsula. His remains lie in a wooden box in a small chapel there.