Pope Francis as the Oldest Traveling Pontiff Entrusts his Historic Journey to Our Lady while Asking the Faithful to Pray for his Trip to Asia-Pacific


Pope Francis entrusts his 45th Apostolic Journey to Mary, Salus Populi Romani
Pope Francis prays before the icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani, entrusting his upcoming Apostolic Journey to her care.
On Sunday September 1st, the eve of his 45th Apostolic Journey abroad, Pope Francis visited the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to pray before the icon of the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani. He entrusted to her his upcoming apostolic journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore.
The Holy See Press Office announced that this will be the longest journey of his pontificate, from 2-13 September. The 12-day Asian tour will be the longest trip of his papacy. He intends to visit: Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, Sept. 3-6; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 6-9; Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, Sept. 9-11; and Singapore Sept. 11-13.

He will hold meetings with local Catholics and celebrate Masses in all four countries. When he visits the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia, he will have an interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. He will also hold an interreligious meeting with young people in Singapore, which, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center in 2014, appears to be the world's most religiously diverse nation.
With 281.5 million people, Indonesia has the world's fourth-largest population and has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, according to the CIA's World Factbook. About 87.4% are Muslim, 7.5% are Protestant, 3.1% are Catholic and 1.7% are Hindu.
The island nation of Papua New Guinea in Oceania is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, the world's third largest island country and home to at least 10 million people. It is known to be the most linguistically diverse country in the world with about 840 known Indigenous languages. About 70% of the population are Christian, 26% are Catholic and 1.4% belong to a non-Christian religion, according to the World Factbook.
Timor-Leste had been under Portuguese and then Indonesian rule for decades until 2002.
Timor-Leste is still one of the world's poorest nations after years of conflict and instability. The country's population is 1.5 million people, 97.6% are Catholic, 2% are Protestant or evangelical Christian and 0.2% are Muslim.
A former British trading colony, Singapore today is one of the world's most prosperous countries. With a population of 6 million people, 31.1% are Buddhist, 18.9% are Christian — of which 37.1% identify as Catholic, 15.6% are Muslim, 8.8% are Taoist, 5% are Hindu and 20% identify with no religion.
Sources: Vatican News and NCROnline

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