Pope Francis will take his first overseas trip of the year and the longest of his 11-year papacy, traveling to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore from Sept. 2-13, the Vatican said on Friday.
\nThe Asia and Oceania trip has been on the papal agenda for some time, but there had been doubts on whether the 87-year-old pontiff would embark on it given his increasing frailty and a record of skipping engagements due to health problems.
\nHis last international journey was a two-day stay in Marseille, France, in September. In November, he pulled out of a trip to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai because of a lung inflammation.
\nFrancis is now scheduled to be in Jakarta between Sept. 3-6, Port Moresby and Vanimo between Sept. 6-9, Dili Sept. 9-11 and Singapore Sept. 11-13, his spokesman said in a statement.
\nVietnam, which had been suggested by Vatican officials as a possible further destination during the nearly two-week long Asia and Oceania trip, was not mentioned.
\nIn recent months, the pope has been suffering on and off from what the Vatican has described as a cold, bronchitis and influenza, and he needs a wheelchair or a cane to move around due to a knee ailment.
\nHis agenda this year also foresees Italian day trips to Venice on April 28, Verona on May 18 and Trieste on July 7, and a visit to Belgium whose dates have not been confirmed, but expected in the second half of September.
\nThe Argentine pope, the first from the so-called Global South, has made reaching out to Asia one of the priorities of his pontificate, during which the Vatican has struck a historic, yet contested, deal with China on bishop appointments.
\nIndonesia is the world\u2019s most populous Muslim nation and its 8 million Catholics represent about 3% of the total population. Timor-Leste, along with the Philippines, are Asia\u2019s only predominantly Catholic countries.
\nIn Singapore, Catholics comprise about 7% of residents aged 15 or above, a 2020 census showed, while in Papua New Guinea, about 26% of the population are Catholics, according to a religious freedom report by the U.S. State Department.
\n(Reuters)Papal Trip. overseas trip, papal agenda, health problems<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pope Francis will embark on his longest overseas trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore from Sept. 2-13. Despite health concerns, he plans to visit these countries in Asia and Oceania, with Vietnam not included as a possible destination. The pope has been dealing with health issues like a cold, bronchitis, influenza, and a knee ailment that require him to use a wheelchair or cane. His agenda also includes day trips in Italy and a visit to Belgium in the second half of September. Pope Francis, the first pope from the Global South, has made connecting with Asia a priority, including working on a controversial deal with China on bishop appointments. Indonesia, Timor-Leste, the Philippines, and Singapore have significant Catholic populations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[403,2508,4165,4386,3748,486,1241,2577,2542,499,4387,210,2053,5113,2004,396,101,187,2796,419,6127,6128,834,1686,4278,864,1220,4620,4951,1827,431,3606,4100,18],"class_list":["post-7916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-asia","tag-belgium","tag-catholic","tag-catholics","tag-census","tag-china","tag-cold","tag-concerns","tag-conference","tag-france","tag-francis","tag-health","tag-health-concerns","tag-health-issues","tag-health-problems","tag-indonesia","tag-influenza","tag-international","tag-issues","tag-italy","tag-overseas-trip","tag-papal-agenda","tag-philippines","tag-pope","tag-pope-francis","tag-population","tag-port","tag-report","tag-singapore","tag-statement","tag-vatican","tag-vietnam","tag-visit","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n