Popular face: A woman taking a selfie with a cutout of Francis at The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, also known as the Jakarta Cathedral, in Jakarta. — AP
Pope Francis is set to embark on a 12-day trip to South-East Asia, the longest and farthest of his papacy that will challenge the 87-year-old’s increasingly fragile health.
The pontiff will fly overnight on Monday and arrive on Tuesday in Jakarta, Indonesia, before heading to Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.
The distance covered – some 32,000km – and time difference of up to eight hours would be enough to make a testing trip.
But Francis – for whom spreading the faith is a priority – will also deliver 16 speeches and hold several giant masses as he seeks to rally the region’s growing Catholic community.
The trip – his 45th abroad – was originally planned for 2020 but postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And in those four years, the pontiff’s health has suffered.
The Argentine now routinely uses a wheelchair to move around, underwent hernia surgery last year and has been plagued by respiratory issues.
He has not travelled abroad since visiting Marseille in France in September 2023, having cancelled a planned address at United Nations climate talks in Dubai two months later.
But in recent weeks the pontiff has appeared in good spirits, and a Vatican source said that beyond the doctor and nurse who always travel with him, no special medical arrangements had been planned for this trip.
The four countries on the tour are very different, but the pope will seek to bolster ties with each of their Catholic communities and their governments, observers say.
The goal is to “strengthen the sovereignty of the pope and the role of the Holy See with local Catholics, to create communion”, said Michel Chambon, a theologian and anthropologist at the National University of Singapore.
“If the Holy See wants to show its universality, it must rub shoulders with Asian traditions which, increasingly, play a major role in the international order,” he said.
Francis is also expected to address some of the key issues that have marked his 11 years as head of the Catholic Church, notably inter-religious dialogue, migration and the environment.
Francis will take most of the first day in Jakarta to recover from the flight, and the next day hold talks with outgoing President Joko Widodo, young people, diplomats and local clergy.
On Sept 5, he will meet representatives of all Indonesia’s main religions at Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in South-East Asia, and sign a joint declaration with the grand imam, Nasaruddin Umar.
Muslim-majority Indonesia officially recognises Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
Yet observers point to growing discrimination against religious minorities.
“Discrimination against the Christian minority in Indonesia remains a concern,” Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International in Indonesia, said.
He said the situation varied widely depending on the region, but noted reports of attacks on churches and harassment of believers, as well as difficulties obtaining permits to build or renovate churches. — AFP
