Argentina Francis begins his longest trip abroad

Pope Francis has begun the longest foreign trip of his term of office to date. The 87-year-old head of the Catholic Church plans to visit four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania over the next twelve days. He is expected to start off in Indonesia - the most populous Muslim country in the world with more than 240 million Muslims. Further stops are Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.

Francis flew from Rome's Fiumicino Airport to Indonesia on Monday afternoon on a special flight operated by Italian airline Ita. The flight takes more than 13 hours. He is expected to arrive in the Indonesian capital Jakarta at 11.30 a.m. local time (6.30 a.m. CEST).

The trip will focus in particular on peaceful coexistence between the different religions. Only in East Timor, the third stop, is the majority of the population Catholic. In consideration of Francis' age and state of health, who is now often in a wheelchair, there are always longer breaks. The pontiff's last major trip abroad was a year ago. At that time, he visited Mongolia.

All in all, the Pope, who has been in office for eleven years, will cover more than 30,000 kilometers by plane on his 45th trip abroad. He is scheduled to return to Rome on September 13. The next foreign trip on the agenda is a visit to Luxembourg and Belgium later this month. Catholic faithful from Germany are also expected there.

SDA