EGN NEWS DESK
Pope Francis has arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the beginning of his forty fifth Apostolic Journey that will even take him to Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and Singapore.
He will spend three nights in Jakarta, the capital of the world’s most populous Muslim majority nation. His first official engagements begin on Wednesday and embrace a go to to the primary mosque, a gathering with outgoing president Joko Widodo, and celebrating mass with round 70,000 individuals.
The 87-year-old’s tour of Asia and Oceania will span an intensive 12 days – his longest Apostolic Journey overseas thus far.
After Indonesia, Francis will journey to Papua New Guinea, which is house to 2 million Catholics. The final papal go to to the bulk Christian nation was in 1984 by Pope St John Paul II. While within the nation, Francis will present his closeness to these struggling the consequences of poverty and pure disasters. He will even journey to the distant metropolis of Vanimo the place he could have a personal assembly with missionaries from his native Argentina.
The subsequent leg of his tour will take him to Timor-Leste, a former Portuguese colony and Asia’s most Catholic nation. When John Paul II visited in 1989, the nation was nonetheless beneath Indonesian occupation. During his time there, Francis will meet Jesuits and kids with disabilities.
The ultimate leg of his tour is Singapore, the place round six per cent of the inhabitants is Catholic. He will rejoice mass on the 55,000-capacity National Stadium.
Michel Chambon, a theologian and anthropologist on the National University of Singapore, informed the BBC that the go to is “not merely regional”.
“It is far more a worldwide assertion to reaffirm the common risk for Christian-Muslim fraternal engagement,” he stated.
