20,000 miles over the sea: Here’s where Pope Francis is headed in Southeast Asia and Oceania

Graha Maria Annai Velangkanni Church, an Indian-Mughal style Catholic church in Medan, Indonesia. / Credit: MarlonH/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 30, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will embark on an 11-day trip on Sept. 2 that will bring him to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste (East Timor), and Singapore. 

During this longest journey of his pontificate so far — which includes numerous events in the largest majority-Muslim country on earth, Indonesia — the pope is expected to emphasize themes of interreligious dialogue, solidarity, and peace.

Here’s a closer look at all the destinations the pope will visit during his apostolic journey, but first, a broader look at the seven flights he will embark on, carrying him approximately 20,000 miles (over 32,000 km) in total:

Flight 1: Rome to Jakarta (7,055 miles/11,354 km, 13 hours and 15 minutes)

Leaving Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport in the early evening, the pope’s plane will cross over the Middle East and India en route to Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Jakarta is a sprawling metropolis and the capital of Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority nation in the world in terms of population. 

Indonesia, an archipelago with nearly 1,000 inhabited islands, is about 7.5% Protestant and 3% Catholic. Many of the country’s Catholics live on Flores, an island that was recently designated as an international pilgrimage destination by the government. 

The pope will be officially welcomed in Jakarta when he arrives on Sept. 3 and will take the rest of the day to rest. The following day, Sept. 4, there will be a welcome ceremony outside the Istana Merdeka Presidential Palace before the pope visits with President Joko Widodo.

Francis will be the third pope to visit Indonesia after St. Paul IV and St. John Paul II. 

The pope’s second full day in Jakarta begins with an interreligious meeting in the Istiqlal Mosque, the ninth-largest mosque in the world.

Security in Indonesia for the pope’s visit is expected to be high; Indonesia has seen numerous terrorist attacks in recent years that have targeted the country’s Christian minority. 

Pope Francis will conclude his time in Indonesia with a Mass on the evening of Sept. 5 in Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 77,000, after meeting with beneficiaries from local charitable organizations.

Flight 2: Jakarta to Port Moresby (2,916 miles/4,693 km, 6 hours and 5 minutes)

On Sept. 6, Pope Francis will fly to Papua New Guinea’s capital of Port Moresby, making him the second pope to visit after St. John Paul II, who visited twice. 

Despite being extremely diverse, more than 98% of Papua New Guinea citizens identify as Christian and the Church plays a crucial role in education, health care, and social services. 

Catholicism represents the largest Christian denomination in the country with an estimated 4 million people — about 25% of the total population. The country suffered violence from rioting earlier this year in a spate of unrest on Jan. 10 now dubbed “Black Wednesday.”

Pope Francis will visit local ministries that care for street children and persons with disabilities on his first full day in Papua New Guinea on Sept. 7, which also includes a speech to the local political authorities and an address to the local clergy at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians.

The following day, the pope will meet with Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, before presiding over Sunday Mass in Port Moresby’s Sir John Guise Stadium. He will then head to Vanimo for the remainder of the day.

Flight 3: Port Moresby to Vanimo (616 miles/991 km, 2 hours and 15 minutes)

Vanimo is a city in the northwesternmost province of Papua New Guinea, where Pope Francis will greet local missionaries and address local Catholics in front of the Holy Cross Cathedral before departing.

Flight 4: Vanimo to Port Moresby (616 miles/991 km, 2 hours and 15 minutes)

Pope Francis will return to the capital city on Sunday night. On Monday, Sept. 9, there will be a farewell ceremony for the pope before he leaves for East Timor.

Flight 5: Port Moresby to Dili (1,601 miles/2,578 km, 3 hours and 30 minutes)

Pope Francis will travel on Sept. 9 to the small country of East Timor, which has a population that is more than 97% Catholic and whose most prominent archbishop Francis made a cardinal in 2022.

In Dili, the country’s capital, Pope Francis will visit children with disabilities, meet local clergy and religious in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, give a speech at the Presidential Palace, and preside over Mass in the Esplanade of Tasitolu over the course of two days.

Flight 6: Dili to Singapore (1,640 miles/2,640 km, 4 hours)

The pope’s final stop before returning to Rome will be the island of Singapore, the country with the highest GDP per capita in Asia and the second-highest population density of any country in the world. Despite the relative stability of Singapore itself, observers have warned that anti-Israel Malaysian militant groups (Singapore is Malaysia’s immediate neighbor) may stage rallies in Malaysia to protest the pope’s visit.

Pope Francis will be welcomed to Singapore’s world-renowned Changi International Airport on Sept. 11. He will meet President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sept. 12 before presiding over Mass in Singapore’s Sports Hub National Stadium, the third stadium Mass of the trip.

On his last day in Asia, the pope will preside over an interreligious meeting with young people in Singapore’s Catholic Junior College and visit a group of elderly people. 

Flight 7: Singapore to Rome (5,945 miles/9,567 km, 12 hours and 35 minutes)

Pope Francis will make the 6,000-mile journey back to Italy on a chartered Singapore Airlines flight scheduled to land in Rome at 6:25 p.m. on Sept. 13.