The Vatican announced that Pope Francis will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in September
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in September, the Vatican announced Friday, confirming the longest trip of Francis’ papacy that will surely test his health, stamina and mobility.
The Vatican confirmed the Sept. 2-13 visit, saying the 87-year-old pope will visit Jakarta, Indonesia; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea; Dili, East Timor; and Singapore. Further details will be announced later.
Francis’ health has become a source of growing concern and speculation, although the pope is able to continue with a rigorous schedule of meetings at the Vatican and even trips to local parishes.
Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had to cancel a planned visit to Dubai late last year after coming down with a bad case of bronchitis. He suffered from respiratory problems throughout the winter and had to cut back on his participation in Holy Week events to save his energy for Easter.
Francis has also used a wheelchair for nearly two years due to bad knee ligaments and said traveling has become increasingly difficult.
Still, at 11 days, the trip will be the longest of Francis’ papacy, eclipsing by several days some of his long trips to America at the start of his 11-year papacy. He will take the Argentine Jesuit to the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, as well as to the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, where the Catholic Church has enormous influence.
There’s also a chance another leg of the trip could be added later: This week, the Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, was in Vietnam to discuss a papal visit, Vatican News reported, without providing details.
In a statement announcing the visit, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry welcomed the visit and recalled that it was originally planned for 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Pope Francis’ visit to Indonesia has great significance for the Indonesian people, not only for Catholics, but for all religious communities. The visit is also expected to reinforce the message of tolerance, unity and world peace,” the statement said.
Indonesia is home to an estimated 242 million Muslims and 29 million Christians — 8.5 million of whom are Catholic — according to a 2022 report by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
East Timor, which today has a population of about 1.2 million people, is the only predominantly Christian nation in Southeast Asia apart from the Philippines. According to the 2015 census, 97.6% of East Timor’s population is Catholic.
The visit to East Timor is likely to refocus attention on the clerical sexual abuse scandal involving the revered independence hero and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The Vatican confirmed in 2022 that it had sanctioned Bishop Carlos Ximenez Bello following allegations that he sexually abused boys there in the 1990s. Bello is now believed to be living in Portugal.
Francis will be the first pope to visit Papua New Guinea since St. John Paul II went there in 1984. The country, located in a strategically important part of the South Pacific, has been struggling with tribal violence and civil unrest.
John Paul also visited Singapore in 1986. Today, the country is home to 395,000 Catholics, and in 2022 Francis made his archbishop Singapore’s first cardinal.
In a statement welcoming the visit, Cardinal William Goh said it “will bring new fervor to all Catholics in Singapore, uniting them in faith and mission, especially in these most challenging times”.
The Vatican has planned just one more papal visit this year – to Belgium to celebrate the anniversary of the country’s Catholic university. Francis has also said he wants to return to his native Argentina, but no plans or dates have been announced.
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Carmini contributed from Jakarta, Indonesia.
