Pope Francis embarks on ambitious Asia Pacific tour
Pope Francis has embarked on the longest and farthest trip of his tenure, which will see him fly nearly 33,000km (20,500 miles) to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.
It’s a particularly challenging journey for a man who turns 88 in December and has been battling a spate of health issues.
Francis is expected to highlight environmental concerns and the importance of interfaith dialogue during his 12-day trip. Timor-Leste is the only one of the four countries that is predominantly Catholic.
He is expected to arrive in Jakarta at around 11:30 local time (04:30 GMT) on Tuesday, where he will visit the Indonesian capital’s main mosque.
Parts of Francis’s trip, which was originally scheduled in 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic, will retrace the steps of St John Paul II, who also visited the four nations during his 27-year pontificate.
“Today I begin an Apostolic Journey to several countries in Asia and Oceania,” Francis wrote on X on Monday. “Please pray that this journey may bear fruit.”
Since his election in 2013, Francis has urged the Catholic Church to bring God’s comfort “toward the periphery” – referring to communities who are marginalised or far away.
He is only the third pope to visit Indonesia, which has the largest population of Muslims globally.
During his four days there, he will meet with outgoing president Joko Widodo and hold a mass for some 70,000 people, according to the Vatican News.
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