The Holy See Press Office released on June 5, 2024, Pope Francis’ agenda for the longest trip of his pontificate — to southeast Asia and Oceania, from September 2 to 13.
Traveling over 32,000 km (almost 20,000 miles), the 87-year-old Pontiff’s schedule includes 44 hours of flying, 12 speeches, and 4 public masses, one in each country visited: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.
1
Indonesia
The Pope will depart from Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport on September 2 at 5:15 p.m. aboard an ITA Airways flight to Jakarta. The flight will last 13 hours 15 minutes and the Pontiff is expected to arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on September 3 at 11:30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. Rome time), after travelling 11,354 km (over 7000 miles). An official welcome event is planned on site and this will be the Pontiff’s only activity of the day, as he is expected to rest after this very long journey.
The following day, September 4, at 9:30 a.m., the Pope will attend a welcome ceremony in front of the Istina Merdeka Presidential Palace, and then pay a courtesy visit to the Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, in his residence at 10:00 a.m. At 10:35 a.m., Francis will deliver a speech to the country’s authorities in the ‘Istina Negara’ hall of the Presidential Palace.
At 11:30 a.m., Pope Francis will go to the Apostolic Nunciature for a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus. At 4:30 p.m., he will go to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and deliver a speech to the Indonesian bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity. Then at 5:35 p.m. he will meet with young Indonesians at the ‘Ghra Permuda’ youth center.
The following day, September 5, at 9:00 a.m., the Pontiff will take part in an interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal mosque, during which he will deliver another speech. He will then go to the headquarters of the Bishops’ Conference for a meeting at 10:15 a.m. with people that were helped by the Church’s charitable organizations in Indonesia. He will then celebrate mass in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium at 5:00 p.m., where he will pronounce a homily.
The following day, the Pontiff will go to the airport for a farewell ceremony at 9:15 a.m. The Pope’s plane, chartered by the Garuda Indonesia airline, will take off at 9:45 a.m. for a 6 hour and 5 minute flight to Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea, 4693 km (almost 3000 miles) east of Jakarta.
2
Papua New Guinea
Pope Francis’ plane is due to land in Port Moresby’s Jacksons International Airport at 6:50 p.m. local time – 10:50 a.m. Rome time. This will be the first time he steps foot in Oceania. After a welcome ceremony, the Pope will go rest.
The following day, September 7, at 9:45 a.m., Francis will visit the country’s Governor General, Bob Dadae, who acts as the head of state in this Commonwealth country. Francis will then address the country’s authorities at 10:25 a.m. at Apec Haus. In the afternoon at 5:00 p.m., Pope Francis will meet with disadvantaged children being helped by two organizations, Callan Services and Street Ministry, at the Caritas Technical Secondary School. At 5:40 p.m. he will meet with the bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (which belong to the same bishops’ conference) in the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians. There the Pope will deliver another speech.
The following day, September 8, the Pope will receive a visit from the country’s Prime Minister, James Marape, at the Nunciature at 7:30 a.m. He will then celebrate mass at 8:45 a.m. in the ‘Sir John Guise’ stadium, named after the country’s first governor. The Pontiff will deliver a homily and recite the Angelus prayer; it is the feast of Our Lady’s birthday.
At 1:30 p.m., he will take off from Port Moresby airport for Vanimo, a port town 991 km, over 600 miles, north of the country, on a flight lasting 3 hours and 15 minutes and operated by the Royal Australian Air Force.
The Pope is expected to land in Vanimo at 3:15 p.m. He will visit the esplanade of the Holy Cross Cathedral for a meeting with the faithful of the diocese at 3:30 p.m and deliver a speech. Then, at 4:50 p.m., he will meet privately with a group of missionaries at a local school before returning to Vanimo airport, from where he will take off at 5:40 p.m. The flight, again operated by the Royal Australian Air Force, will take around 2 hours and 15 minutes to return to Port Moresby, landing at 7:55 p.m. local time.
3
East Timor
The following day, September 9, the Pope will return to the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby for a meeting with the country’s youth, during which he will deliver another speech. At 11:10 a.m., he will head for Port Moresby’s airport for a farewell ceremony. His plane, chartered by Air Niugini, will take off at 11:40 a.m. for a 3 and a half hour flight of around 2578 km (1600 miles). He will arrive in the capital of East Timor, Dili, at the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport, at 2:10 p.m, local time (7:10 a.m. Rome time), and will attend a welcome ceremony.
The Pontiff will then rest for some time before heading to the Presidential Palace at 6:00 p.m. for another welcome ceremony, followed by a courtesy visit to the country’s president and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner, José Manuel Ramos-Horta. He will then address the local authorities at 7:00 p.m. before resting for the night.
The following day, September 10, the Pope will visit children with disabilities in a school at 8:45 a.m. He will then deliver a speech to the country’s bishops, clergy, religious, seminarians and catechists in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at 9:30 a.m. At 10.45 a.m., he will meet a group of Jesuits in private at the Nunciature, before heading to the Taci Tolu esplanade to celebrate mass at 4.30 p.m. – he will pronounce a homily.
4
Singapore
The following day, September 11, the Pope will visit young people in a Convention Center at 9:30 a.m. and give a speech, before heading to Dili airport for a farewell ceremony at 10:45 a.m. and take-off at 11:15 a.m. The plane, chartered by Aero Dili, will fly 2640 km (1640 miles) for 4 hours, and is expected to arrive at Singapore Changi International Airport at 2:15 p.m. local time (8:15 a.m. Rome time). After a welcome ceremony, he will go to the St. Francis Xavier Retreat House for a private meeting with the Jesuits at 6:15 p.m., before resting.
The following day, September 12, Pope Francis will be received in the Parliament House at 9:00 a.m., where he will meet the President of the Republic, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, at 9:30 a.m., and then Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at 9:55 a.m. At 10:30 a.m, the Pontiff will meet the local authorities at the National University of Singapore and deliver a speech. At 5:15 p.m., he will celebrate mass in the Singapore SportsHub stadium and pronounce a homily.
The following day, September 13, the Pope will visit a group of sick and elderly people at the St. Theresa Home at 9:15 a.m., then take part in an interreligious meeting with young people at the Catholic Junior College at 10:00 a.m., and deliver his final address. He will then go to the airport for a farewell ceremony at 11:20 a.m. and then take-off at 11:50 a.m. The flight, operated by Singapore Airlines, will cover 9567 km (almost 6000 miles) to Rome Fiumicino, with a flight time of around 12 hours 35 minutes. The arrival is scheduled for 6:25 p.m. Rome time.
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