BANGKOK (AP) — Pope Francis has wrapped up his longest and most challenging trip ever, which took the 87-year-old pontiff more than 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) by air to four countries in the Asia-Pacific from Sept. 2 to 13.
He visited the country with the world’s largest Muslim population — Indonesia, with about 242 million — and the country with the highest percentage of Catholics outside the Vatican itself — East Timor, with some 98%.
He visited two of the world’s poorest countries — Papua New Guinea and East Timor — and one of its richest — Singapore.
By days and distance, it was one of the longest papal trips ever as Francis sought to reinforce the importance that Asia has to the Catholic Church. It is one of the few places where the church is growing in terms of baptized faithful and religious vocations.
The crowds he drew did not disappoint, with Francis celebrating Mass for about 100,000 people in both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, 50,000 in Singapore and 600,000 in East Timor — nearly half the country’s population.
Francis used the trip to highlight some of his core priorities as pope, including an emphasis on interreligious and intercultural dialogue, care for the environment and insistence on the spiritual component of economic development.
In Indonesia, he urged the country to live up to its promise of “harmony in diversity” and fight religious intolerance in a visit that included meetings with outgoing President Joko Widodo and President-elect Prabowo Subianto. He greeted Catholic priests, nuns and seminarians at Jakarta’s main cathedral.
After a meeting with the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, the two issued a joint call to fight religiously inspired violence and protect the environment.
In Papua New Guinea, Francis traveled to the remote city of Vanimo, in the jungles of the extreme northwest, bringing with him about a ton of medicine, clothing, musical instruments and toys to donate.
He was greeted by some 20,000 people singing and dancing on the field in front of the Vanimo cathedral, where he donned a feathered headdress presented to him.
In remarks to the crowd, he urged members of the community to come together to overcome rivalries, a reference to the tribal violence that has grown more lethal in the country in recent years.
Overwhelmingly Catholic East Timor greeted Francis with huge crowds, with people jamming his motorcade route from the airport into town cheering as he smiled broadly and waved from his open-backed pickup truck. Nearly half the country showed up for him to celebrate Mass.
In remarks he emphasized that “we are all called to do everything possible to prevent every kind of abuse,” an apparent reference to a scandal involving Timorese Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo.
Belo was sanctioned in 2020 by the Vatican for sexually abusing young boys, but to this day is still regarded as a hero by many for his efforts in supporting East Timor’s bloody struggle for independence.
As he wrapped up his visit in Singapore, Francis marveled at the modern city’s skyscrapers, while urging authorities not to forget the workers who built them and to make sure to look out for the poorest of society.
He concluded his visit with the same message of tolerance that he delivered at the start, telling a group of young people that those of different faiths need to engage in constructive dialogue rather than insist on the righteousness of their own beliefs.
“All religions are a path to arrive at God,” Francis told the group. “They are like different languages to arrive there. But God is God for all.”
