VATICAN CITY (RNS) — At the age of 87, Pope Francis will embark on an 11-day trip to Southeast Asia that will test both his physical health and the core messages of his pontificate, focusing on the poor, the environment and a Catholic Church at the margins.
The papal trip, which will take place Sept. 2-13, presents the most ambitious schedule that Francis has ever faced on an apostolic visit. He will visit four countries — Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore — crossing over 20,000 miles for a total of 44 flight hours.
Francis’ age and health struggles, including a brief hospital visit in February, have led some Vatican experts to speculate whether the papal trip might be one of the last. But defying expectations, the pope has already scheduled travel to Belgium and Luxembourg Sept. 26-29.
“I’ll be honest: I’m younger than the pope, and I feel that these long trips are hard,” said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 67, in an interview with Vatican News outlets. “To embrace this hardship is an act of humanity for him. It’s not a show to prove what he is still capable of,” he added.
In the diverse ethnic and cultural tapestry of these South Asian countries, Francis is expected to bring his message for pluralism and dialogue with Muslim communities as well as an emphasis on poverty and migration. The Argentine pope has increasingly shifted the attention of the Catholic Church toward the Global South, where religion isn’t being defeated by the secularism of Europe, and the population has grown consistently for decades.
“Many Western countries are returning to the experience of a church that is like a small flock. It can be positive to look at the churches in many Eastern countries to see how to act when you are in this situation, in a state of smallness,” Tagle said.
All four countries that the pope will visit have been previously visited by his predecessors, and many have a long history of martyrdom and missionaries, including the Jesuit St. Francis Xavier. These countries have a “rich and troubled history of evangelization,” said Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni during a briefing to Vatican reporters on Friday (Aug. 30), adding Francis’ visit will acknowledge the past and current challenges.
Indonesia, with its massive archipelago of islands with unique cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds, will be the pope’s first stop on his voyage, and it will give Francis the opportunity to address the country’s “vocation for pluralism,” Bruni explained.
Having landed in Jakarta, Indonesia, the pope will begin his official meetings with state and diplomacy representatives on Sept. 3 when he will pronounce his first official speech of the trip. On the same day, he is expected to meet with the leaders and faithful of the Catholic community in the country at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption followed by an encounter with young students of the international education organization Scholas Occurrentes.
“The visit has been welcomed with great interest, especially by Catholics in the country, but also by Muslims,” said Fr. Markus Solo, a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, during a meeting with Vatican journalists.
Indonesia is considered the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, and Catholics are considered a minority, comprising roughly 3% of the population. Dialogue with Islam is a major element of Francis’ efforts as pope, having co-signed a historic document on human fraternity with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar in 2019. The same messages of tolerance and cohabitation will likely emerge on Thursday, Sept. 5, when Francis will take part in an interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia.
Francis will also meet with representatives of local Catholic charities that same day, before celebrating Mass at the Galora Bung Karno Stadium.
