Vatican publishes schedule of pope’s four-nation visit to Asia

By Carol Glatz, CNS – Pope Francis will meet with young people, the marginalised, government officials, bishops, priests, religious and missionaries, when he travels to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore in September.

The 12-day Asian tour will be the longest trip of his papacy. He intends to visit: Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, Sept. 3-6; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 6-9; Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, Sept. 9-11; and Singapore Sept. 11-13.

The focus of the visit will be encounters with people on the peripheries in nations that are also at the furthest ends of the earth. He will meet with the elderly, the ill, “street children,” the disabled and all those who minister to them, as well as leaders of government and civil society.

He will hold meetings with local Catholics and his fellow Jesuits and celebrate Masses in all four countries. When he visits the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia, he will have an interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. He will also hold an interreligious meeting with young people in Singapore, which, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center in 2014, appears to be the world’s most religiously diverse nation.

With 281.5 million people, Indonesia has the world’s fourth-largest population and has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, according to the CIA’s World Factbook. About 87.4% are Muslim, 7.5% are Protestant, 3.1% are Catholic and 1.7% are Hindu.

The island nation of Papua New Guinea in Oceania is: a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, the world’s third largest island country and home to at least 10 million people. It is considered the most linguistically diverse country in the world with about 840 known Indigenous languages. About 70% of the population are Christian, 26% are Catholic and 1.4% belong to a non-Christian religion, according to the World Factbook.

Internationally recognized as an independent state in 2002, Timor-Leste had been under Portuguese and then Indonesian rule for decades. At least 100,000 people died during a two-decade-long “pacification” program and nearly 500,000 people were displaced by anti-independence militias before 2002.

Timor-Leste is still one of the world’s poorest nations after years of conflict and instability. Of the country’s 1.5 million people, 97.6% are Catholic, 2% are Protestant or evangelical Christian and 0.2% are Muslim.

A former British trading colony, Singapore today is one of the world’s most prosperous countries. With a population of 6 million people, 31.1% are Buddhist, 18.9% are Christian — of which 37.1% identify as Catholic, 15.6% are Muslim, 8.8% are Taoist, 5% are Hindu and 20% identify with no religion.

Here is the detailed schedule of the pope’s trip released by the Vatican July 5. Times listed are local, with Eastern Daylight Saving Time in parenthesis.

Monday, Sept. 2 (Rome)

— 5:15 p.m. (11:15 p.m.) Departure from Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

Tuesday, Sept. 3 (Jakarta)

— 11:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m.) Arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and official welcome.

Wednesday, Sept. 4 (Jakarta)

— 9:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. Sept. 3) Welcome ceremony outside the Istana Merdeka Presidential Palace.

— 10 a.m. (11 p.m. Sept. 3) Courtesy visit with President Joko Widodo at the presidential palace.

— 10:35 a.m. (11:35 p.m. Sept. 3) Meeting with authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and local representatives at the Istana Negara Presidential Palace. Speech by pope.

— 11:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m.) Private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus at the apostolic nunciature.

— 4:30 p.m. (5:30 a.m.) Meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, religious, seminarians and catechists at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. Speech by pope.

— 5:35 p.m. (6:35 a.m.) Meeting with young people active with Scholas Occurrentes at the Grha Pemuda Youth Centre.

Thursday, Sept. 5 (Jakarta)

— 9 a.m. (10 p.m. Sept. 4) An interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque. Speech by pope.

— 10:15 a.m. (11:15 p.m. Sept. 4) Meeting with people receiving assistance from charitable organizations at the headquarters of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference.

— 5 p.m. (6 a.m.) Mass at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Homily by pope.

Friday, Sept. 6 (Jakarta, Port Moresby)

— 9:15 a.m. (10:15 p.m. Sept. 5) Farewell ceremony at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta.

— 9:45 a.m. (10:45 p.m. Sept. 5) Departure by plane for Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

— 6:50 p.m. (4:50 a.m.) Arrival at Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby and welcome ceremony.

Saturday, Sept. 7 (Port Moresby)

— 9:45 a.m. (7:45 p.m. Sept. 6) Courtesy visit with Bob Dadae, the governor-general of Papua New Guinea, at the Government House.

— 10:25 a.m. (8:25 p.m. Sept. 6) Meeting with authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and local representatives at the APEC Haus. Speech by pope.

— 5 p.m. (3 a.m.) Visit with children receiving assistance from street ministry programs and Callan Services, a network of service providers to children and adults with disabilities, at a technical secondary school run by Caritas.

— 5:40 p.m. (3:40 a.m.) Meeting with bishops of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, priests, deacons, religious, seminarians and catechists at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians. Speech by pope.

Sunday, Sept. 8 (Port Moresby, Vanimo, Port Moresby)

— 7:30 a.m. (5:30 p.m. Sept. 7) Visit with Prime Minister James Marape at the apostolic nunciature.

— 8:45 a.m. (6:45 p.m. Sept. 7) Mass at the Sir John Guise Stadium. Homily by pope, Angelus prayer.

— 1 p.m. (11 p.m. Sept. 7) Departure by plane from Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby to Vanimo Airport.

— 3:15 p.m. (1:15 a.m.) Arrival at Vanimo Airport.

— 3:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m.) Meeting with Catholics of the Diocese of Vanimo along the esplanade in front of Holy Cross Cathedral. Speech by pope.

— 4:50 p.m. (2:50 a.m.) Private meeting with a group of missionaries at the Holy Trinity Humanistic School in Baro.

— 5:40 p.m. (3:40 a.m.) Departure by plane from Vanimo Airport to Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby.

— 19:55 p.m. (5:55 a.m.) Arrival at Jacksons International Airport.

Monday, Sept. 9 (Port Moresby, Dili)

— 9:45 a.m. (7:45 p.m. Sept. 8) Meeting with young people at the Sir John Guise Stadium. Speech by pope.

— 11:10 a.m. (9:10 p.m. Sept. 8) Farewell ceremony at Jacksons International Airport.

— 11:40 a.m. (9:40 p.m. Sept. 8) Departure by plane from Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby to Dili, Timor-Leste.

— 2:10 p.m. (1:10 a.m.) Arrival at Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili and official welcome.

— 6 p.m. (5 a.m.) Welcome ceremony outside the presidential palace.

— 6:30 p.m. (5:30 a.m.) Courtesy visit with President José Ramos-Horta at the presidential palace.

— 7 p.m. (6 a.m.) Meeting with authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and local representatives at the presidential palace. Speech by pope.

Tuesday, Sept. 10 (Dili)

— 8:45 a.m. (7:45 p.m. Sept. 9) Visit with children with disabilities who attend the Irmas Alma School.

— 9:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. Sept. 9) Meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, religious, seminarians and catechists at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Speech by pope.

— 10:45 a.m. (9:45 p.m. Sept. 9) Private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus at the apostolic nunciature.

— 4:30 p.m. (3:30 a.m.) Mass along the esplanade of the Tasitolu wetlands. Homily by pope.

Wednesday, Sept. 11 (Dili, Singapore)

— 9:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. Sept. 10) Meeting with young people at the Centro de Convenções. Speech by pope.

— 10:45 a.m. (9:45 p.m. Sept. 10) Farewell ceremony at Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport.

— 11:15 a.m. (10:15 p.m. Sept. 10) Departure by plane from Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport to Singapore.

— 2:15 p.m. (2:15 a.m.) Arrival at Changi International Airport in Singapore and official welcome.

— 6:15 p.m. (6:15 a.m.) Private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus at the St. Francis Xavier Retreat Centre.

Thursday, Sept. 12 (Singapore)

— 9 a.m. (9 p.m. Sept. 11) Welcome ceremony outside Parliament House.

— 9:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. Sept. 11) Courtesy visit with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore.

— 9:55 a.m. (9:55 p.m. Sept. 11) Meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong of Singapore.

— 10:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. Sept. 11) Meeting with authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and local representatives in the theatre of the cultural centre of the National University of Singapore. Speech by pope.

— 5:15 p.m. (5:15 a.m.) Mass at the Sports Hub National Stadium. Homily by pope.

Friday, Sept. 13 (Singapore, Rome)

— 9:15 a.m. (9:15 p.m. Sept. 12) Visit with a group of elderly and sick people at St. Theresa’s Home.

— 10:00 a.m. (10 p.m. Sept. 12) Interreligious meeting with young people at the Catholic Junior College. Speech by pope.

— 11:20 a.m. (11:20 p.m. Sept. 12) Farewell ceremony at Changi International Airport.

— 11:50 a.m. (11:50 p.m. Sept. 12) Departure by plane from Changi International Airport to Rome.

— 6:25 p.m. (12:25 p.m.) Arrival at Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport.