What to Know About Pope Francis’ Historic Asia Trip

Pope Francis has embarked on the 45th and longest overseas trip of his papacy, touching down Tuesday in Jakarta, Indonesia for the start of a busy 12 days of activities, despite concerns about the 87-year-old Catholic leader’s deteriorating health. 

“Please pray that this journey may bear fruit,” he posted on X on Monday announcing the start of the “Apostolic Journey,” which had originally been scheduled for 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Francis’ first stop on the journey, in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country where about 87 percent of the population practice Islam, reflects his enduring efforts through his visits across the world to reach out to Catholics in regions where they are minorities and to foster interfaith cooperation. 

Indonesia’s eight million Catholics make up just 3 percent of the population. “There are not many Catholics in Indonesia, so it shows that we are being acknowledged and we are being counted,” a local told Al Jazeera. “It shows we have a role to play in Indonesia.”

After meeting with Indonesian outgoing President Joko Widodo as well as representatives from civil society and local clergy on Wednesday, Francis is expected to hold a mass for some 70,000 people at a stadium on Thursday. 

The pope also plans to attend a meeting with other religious leaders on Thursday in Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque. The mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, is connected to the capital’s main Catholic cathedral via an underground “tunnel of friendship,” built in 2020 as a symbol of religious harmony.

Francis will sign an interfaith declaration with Nasaruddin Umar, the grand imam of Istiqlal Mosque. Umar told the Associated Press that he and Francis will “discuss the common ground between religious communities and emphasize the commonalities between religions, ethnicities and beliefs.” Umar also said that the choice to make Indonesia the pope’s first stop makes “the Muslim community proud.” 

In 2019, Francis became the first pontiff to visit the Arabian Peninsula, where, together with the grand imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, he signed a historic interfaith document and pledged to work together to tackle extremism. In 2021, Francis met with Iraq’s top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and attended a gathering of religious leaders—a rare display of unity given the country’s long-standing divisions among religious and ethnic groups.

For the current visit to Jakarta, there are also hopes that Francis, who has been outspoken about climate efforts, will promote environmental protection. Indonesian authorities have long dragged their feet on effectively tackling the problem of air pollution in the capital city.

Ahead of his trip, Francis urged people in his monthly video message to commit to protecting the environment, describing the Earth as a “sick” planet.

“The visit of the pope is great because it provides a sounding board,” air pollution expert Piotr Jakubowski told the Associated Press, “from another, very well-respected world leader.”

Continuing his journey through Asia, on Friday, Francis is expected to arrive in Papua New Guinea, a small Pacific island nation where nearly all of its citizens identify as Christian and about 26% of the population are Roman Catholic. There, the pope will meet with local bishops and priests as well as missionaries. He will then make his way to Timor-Leste, the region’s youngest nation—it gained independence from Indonesia in 2002—where 97.5% of the population is Catholic.

The last stop on Francis’ itinerary is Singapore. While only 19% of Singapore’s population identify as Christian—among them, about a third are Catholics—Francis’ visit to the city-state, which has a majority ethnic Chinese population and balances good ties with both China and the U.S., has been interpreted by some as part of the Vatican’s sustained efforts to warm relations with China. 

During his visit to Mongolia last year, Francis took the opportunity to send his well wishes to the Chinese people. And in May, the Vatican announced its intentions to establish a permanent office in China, home to millions of Catholics. As a result of tensions surrounding the appointment of bishops and the Holy See’s ties with Taiwan, no pope has ever visited China.

This packed Asia trip is an ambitious one for the pope, whose ailing health has in recent years caused him to cut down on some of his public engagements. Francis, who lost part of his lung to an infection when he was younger, has in recent years undergone intestinal surgeries and suffered from mobility issues. Over the past year, he has battled bouts of bronchitis and influenza. Nevertheless, he is already planning his next trip—to Belgium and Luxembourg later this month.