As news of the Pope's death reverberates around the world, a small community in remote Central Australia is carrying on his legacy in their own way. Ltyentye Apurte, a former mission town around 85 kilometres southeast of Alice Springs, is believed to be one of the most Catholic communities in the country.
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00:00A world away from the Vatican, the remote community of Gingiporta, where more than four out of five of around 600 residents identify as Catholic, and where the symbols of Catholic faith are mixed with their own.
00:16Our belief in language and culture and Catholic faith are joined together as one.
00:25The community was established in the 50s by a Catholic mission, and some of the older residents we spoke to told us about the impacts the assimilation policies had on them and their families.
00:37But they also told us about the strength of their culture and language, including how they've made Catholicism their own.
00:45For instance, the walls inside this church are covered in biblical paintings solely featuring Aboriginal people, including an indigenous Jesus.
00:54For our kids, for our future, you know?
00:56Because we don't want to lose our identity, and we don't want to lose our culture, and especially we don't want to lose our language.
01:08News of Pope Francis' death this week rippling through this community.
01:14So we do respect the bulk of how he was respecting all languages, all races, all nations.
01:26Me and my cousin, we painted a cross, and it was sent to Rome, and it was in his country's colour.
01:40A token of faith from the Central Desert.
01:44You haveĆ¼rer here for the Central Desert Desert.
01:46Even the form of faith was part of Israel.
01:48We have the highest level of faith from the Central Desert Desert, which is the top of our heads of the United States.
01:54We have the highest level of faith from the Central Desert Desert.
01:57We have the highest level of faith.
02:02So...
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