By Joseph Tulloch, Vatican News

Among the 54 Metropolitan Archbishops to receive the pallium—the ancient liturgical vestment that stresses their connection with the Pope—in St. Peter’s Basilica last Sunday was Archbishop Ryan Jimenez of Agaña, Guam.

The 53-year-old Archbishop, a native of the Philippines, is also head of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC)—which is, by area, the largest episcopal conference in the world.

Composed of 17 dioceses, jurisdictions, missiones sui iuris, and prefectures, it encompasses a vast swath of the Pacific Ocean, from the US territory of Guam in the west to the French-speaking island of Tahiti in the southeast.

Logistical difficulties

“It’s a very diverse region,” Archbishop Jimenez told Vatican News in an interview.

Pastoring to this vast territory comes with serious administrative difficulties. Airfare between islands, even those that are relatively close to one another, can be prohibitively expensive, and the bishops of the region meet up only once every two years.

Archbishop Jimenez describes noticing, early on in his career, that a certain bishop was always absent from CEPAC meetings—only to be told that he was unable to afford the flights.

Even online communication is not problem-free, due to internet connectivity issues, with bishops known to abruptly disappear from Zoom meetings.

Climate change and emigration

Perhaps the biggest problem in the region is climate change, which has led to rising sea levels—a particularly severe problem for low-lying Pacific islands—as well as increased ocean temperatures and a rise in extreme weather events.

Archbishop Jimenez met privately with Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, a few days after receiving the pallium. Just beforehand, he said, he received a message from a colleague in Tuvalu: “Please tell the Holy Father that we are sinking.”

In the event, climate change did feature heavily on the agenda at the Archbishop’s meeting with the Pope, as did migration.

The Archbishop stressed the close relation between the two phenomena, noting that many Pacific Islanders are being forced to emigrate to Australia.

“There’s a tension,” he said, “because you want to cling on to your roots, because this is home. On the other hand, you have no choice but to leave, because your home is slowly being covered by water. But you always have that longing for home.”

Colour and beauty

As the interview drew to a close, Archbishop Jimenez stressed that he does not want to dwell too much on the challenges of living in the Pacific: “It’s so important to discuss the joys, too.”

Among these, he listed the presence of various indigenous groups, from the Chamorro in Guam to the Carolinian in his previous diocese in Chalan Kanoa.

“It’s a gift,” Archbishop Jimenez emphasised, “because each local Church expresses the uniqueness of the indigenous cultures, and that uniqueness can also be an important ingredient in the universality of the Church.”

The Archbishop also said that what the Church in the Pacific lacks in quantity—the Catholic Church is a minority in most of the region—it more than makes up for in quality, with “long, incredibly beautiful, incredibly colourful” liturgies.

When he received the pallium on Sunday, Archbishop Jimenez said, he had had the chance to speak briefly with the Pope.

“You have many challenges in your Archdiocese,” Leo told him, “but know that God is with you.”