Pope Francis will be visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in September, according to an announcement by the Vatican on Friday. This is as the Pope’s health status has grown increasingly fragile health.
Spanning from September 2 to 13 and covering around 30,000 kilometres (18,600 miles) in total, the trip is the longest for the Argentine since he became the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church in 2013.
The Vatican had said in the statement that the Pope will visit Jakarta from 3rd to 6th September, Port Moresby and Vanimo from 6th to 9th September, Dili from 9th to 11th September and Singapore from 11th to 13th September respectively.”
This visit will be his first one abroad since September 2023.
Recall that Pope Francis had pulled out of a key Easter event at the last minute in March. His aides had been the ones to read several of his speeches in recent weeks due a spell of bronchitis.
The Pontiff has over the years, increasingly been assaulted with various ailments, including having to use a wheelchair, suffering knee pain and undergoing surgery for hernia and his colon.
Francis was supposed to visit Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Indonesia in September 2020 but the visit was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The flight to Asia will be over 30-hours long, and is a significant eight-hour time difference from the Pope’s Vatican City.
Adding the series of meetings and masses that will be held, the September trip will present a major physical challenge.
Since he became Pope 11 years ago, Francis has made 44 trips abroad, his most recent being to Marseille, France, in September.
There are also plans for the Pope to visit Belgium and possibly his home country, Argentina this year.
Presently, Pope Francis also has three upcoming trips planned within Italy, the first of which will be to Venice, on April 28.
