Pope embarks on longest, farthest and most challenging trip to Asia
NBCSEP 13 2024
Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday for a three-day visit — the first stop of his four-nation tour of the Asia Pacific — accompanied by his entourage and journalists. The 87-year-old pontiff will also visit Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore over the next 12 days.
Indonesia's Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas received the pontiff after he was wheeled off the ITA Airways plane in his wheelchair and onto the tarmac at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
According to the Vatican, the pope met with a group of orphans, refugees, migrants, homeless, and sick people at the Vatican residence in Jakarta. He is the third pope to visit Indonesia and the first since Pope John Paul II in 1989.
The 12-day trip is an opportunity for the octogenarian leader of the world's Roman Catholics to highlight the global importance of inter-religious relationships and deepen dialogue between Christian and Muslim communities that continue to be tolerant and respectful. This historic visit will not only allow the pope to highlight key themes of his pontificate, including climate change and protection of the environment, but also cultivate peace, ensure prosperity, and provoke a jolt of change.
Pope Francis' physical health has undoubtedly declined with age. However, he has demonstrated that he remains mentally fit to lead the Catholic Church and has no intention of slowing down his outreach to faraway Catholics. His long and grueling 12-day trip now — that many in the Vatican seemed skeptical of — underlines his liveliness and sends a message to those, including at senior levels in the church, hoping that this pontificate is running out of steam.