POPE Francis will travel to the southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore later this year.
The 11-day multi-country voyage from September 2–13 will be the longest international trip of Francis’ papacy.
The trip announcement comes after the 87-year-old Pope has slowed down his travel schedule in recent months as health issues have forced him to cancel some public appearances.
Pope Francis, who often uses a wheelchair, has not traveled internationally since September 2023.
Indonesia
Pope Francis’ first stop will be Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world.
The country’s 229 million Muslims make up more than 12 per cent of the global Muslim population. Nearly all of Indonesia’s Muslims are Sunni.
Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo of Jakarta welcomed the news that the Pope would visit Indonesia from September 3–6.
“Catholics throughout Indonesia want to shake hands with the pope one by one, but we all know that is impossible,” Cardinal Suharyo said in a video message announcing the visit.
More than 29 million Christians live in Indonesia, 7 million of whom are Catholic.
Pope Paul VI visited the country in 1970 and Pope John Paul II traveled there in 1989.
“Hopefully, with this visit, Indonesian Catholics will become more courageous in voicing the truth and become an example for people of other religions in terms of truly religious life, namely love above all, as the pope always emphasises,” the Indonesian cardinal said.
Papua New Guinea
Pope Francis will be the second Pope to visit Singapore, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea after Pope John Paul II.
The Pope will visit the cities of Port Moresby and Vanimo in Papua New Guinea from September 6–9.
Papua New Guinea is a country of nearly nine million people on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea.
The other side of the island consists of two Indonesian provinces.
Papua New Guinea is a nation of considerable cultural diversity, comprised of hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to the island with 851 Indigenous languages spoken in the country.
Nearly all Papua New Guinea citizens are Christians, and 26 per cent of the population is Catholic.
East Timor
The Pope’s next stop on his Southeast Asia tour will be Dili, the capital city of East Timor, from September 9–11.
East Timor is a small country on the island of Timor.
It gained independence from Indonesia in 1999, following decades of bloody conflict as the region vied for national sovereignty.
More than 97 per cent of East Timor’s population of 1 million people is Catholic. It is one of only a few Catholic-majority countries in Southeast Asia.
Singapore
Pope Francis will conclude his trip with a visit to the island country of Singapore from September 11–13.
Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in Asia and the second-highest population density of any country in the world.
The Archdiocese of Singapore has a diverse population of 395,000 Catholics, offering Masses predominantly in English, Chinese, Tamil, as well as other languages from Southeast Asia.
Nearly 75 per cent of Singapore’s population is ethnic Chinese, according to the 2020 census, which also lists 13 per cent of the population as ethnic Malay and 9 per cent ethnic Indian.
The US Report on International Religious Freedom states that among ethnic Indians in Singapore, 57.3 per cent are Hindu, 23.4 per cent Muslim, and 12.6 per cent Christian.
The ethnic Chinese population includes Buddhists (40.4 per cent), Christians (21.6 per cent), Taoists (11.6 per cent), and 25.7 per cent with no religion.
Pope Francis has long expressed interest in visiting Indonesia and other neighboring island nations in Southeast Asia.
A papal trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the Pope’s full schedule for the apostolic journey would be published at a later date.
