Pope Francis sets off later Monday on
his longest ever international trip, almost 33,km over 12 days
to southeast Asia and Oceania, touching down in Indonesia, Papua
New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
It is the 45th trip of Francis' pontificate and brings to 65 the
countries he will have visited.
Topics on his agenda include dialogue and peaceful co-existence
between various faiths, the search for harmony amid a
multiplicity of cultures, caring for Creation threatened by the
climate crisis, and closeness and support for young and minority
Churches - except in small East Timor, former Portuguese colony
and still getting over the war of independence from Indonesia,
which has the highest proportion of Catholics in the world, 98%.
Indonesia, on the other hand, is the country with the most
Muslims in the world.
Francis will pronounce 16 speeches in all, all in Italian except
the four in Timor Leste, which will be in Spanish.
The pope leaves from Fiumicino at 17:15 on a flight to Jakarta,
where he will arrived at 11:30 Tuesday local time (06:30 in
Italy).
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