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Pope Francis waves to pilgrims at his General Audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 26, 2024 / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Jul 5, 2024 / 11:46 am (CNA).
Pope Francis will travel more than 20,000 miles over the course of seven flights during his ambitious 12-day trip to four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania this September.
At the age of 87, the Holy Father is set to take on his most ambitious international trip yet to Southeast Asia and Oceania in September.
The Vatican published Friday the full schedule for the pope’s trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore from Sept. 2 to 13.
The first stop on his Southeast Asia tour is Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world, where he will preside over an interfaith meeting in Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque.
After a 13-hour flight and day of rest in the Indonesian capital, Francis will meet with the country’s President Joko Widodo on Sept. 4 and deliver a speech to political leaders at the Istana Merdeka Presidential Palace.
The pope will also visit Jakarta’s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption to meet with bishops, priests, religious sisters, and seminarians after meeting privately with local Jesuits.
More than 29 million Christians live in Indonesia, 7 million of whom are Catholic, while Indonesia’s 229 million Muslims make up more than 12% of the global Muslim population. Nearly all of Indonesia’s Muslims are Sunni.
The pope’s second full day in Jakarta begins with an interreligious meeting in the Istiqlal Mosque, the ninth-largest mosque in the world.
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.
On Sept. 6, he will travel nearly 3,000 miles to Papua New Guinea’s sprawling capital of Port Moresby.
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 fly to Vanimo, a city in the northwesternmost province of Papua New Guinea, where he will greet local missionaries and address local Catholics in front of the Holy Cross Cathedral before flying back to the capital city Sunday night.
Pope Francis will travel on Sept. 9 to the small country of East Timor, which has a population that is more than 97% Catholic.
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 Taci Tolu over the course of two days.
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.
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 SportsHub 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. He 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.
The nearly two-week venture will be the pope’s first international trip in 2024. Francis has slowed down his travel schedule in recent months as health and mobility issues, from a knee injury to recurring bronchitis, have forced him to cancel some public appearances, including his last planned foreign visit to Dubai.
Pope Francis is also scheduled to make a four-day trip to Belgium and Luxembourg at the end of September.
Pope Francis leads the Synod on Synodality delegates in prayer on Oct. 25, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Jul 3, 2024 / 10:55 am (CNA).
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Statue of St. Peter in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Vatican Media
ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 3, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
As every year during summer vacation time, the Vatican does not schedule any public, private, or “special” audiences for Pope Francis in the Vatican, including the general audience on Wednesdays.
The Vatican usually suspends such audiences on only two occasions: during the month of July and the week when the pontiff carries out his spiritual retreat at the Vatican.
The Holy See’s press office announced in a statement that the Holy Father’s agenda will resume on Aug. 7.
However, during this usual period of rest, Pope Francis will lead the Angelus on Sundays from the window of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican.
Although the Holy Father doesn’t spend the summer at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo as popes have traditionally done, this year, as confirmed by the master of papal liturgical ceremonies, he will have a greater rest than in previous years.
Pope Francis will not preside at any public Mass for eight weeks, from July 8 to Sept. 1.
After this well-deserved rest, Pope Francis will travel to Asia and Oceania for 11 days in September and will also visit Belgium and Luxembourg at the end of the same month. In October, the second and final session of the Synod of Synodality will take place in Rome.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Pope Francis prays during his general audience on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
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St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. / Credit: Vlas Telino studio/Shutterstock
ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 1, 2024 / 14:50 pm (CNA).
With the publication of new regulations, Pope Francis has made it clear that employees of the Fabric of St. Peter must profess the Catholic faith, wear decent and appropriate clothing, and not have visible tattoos or piercings, among other requirements.
The Office of the Holy See has published a chirograph of Pope Francis on the Statute and Regulations of the Chapter of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, which determines the norms for the staff of the Fabric of St. Peter, the entity responsible for the conservation and maintenance of St. Peter’s Basilica. A chirograph is an order signed by the pope.
All employees must comply, including the so-called “sampietrini,” those in charge of admittance, surveillance, cleaning, and maintenance of the Vatican basilica.
The document, published on June 29, establishes that employees must “take care of their outward appearance in accordance with the demands and customs of the work environment.”
The Holy Father thus determined that “visible tattoos on the skin and piercings are prohibited.” Likewise, employees must “wear decent clothing appropriate to the activity they are going to perform.”
It will also be mandatory for them to “profess the Catholic faith and live according to its principles” as well as demonstrate that they are married in the Church by presenting a “canonical marriage certificate.” They must also provide baptism and confirmation certificates and demonstrate that they have no criminal record.
The chirograph also states that members of the Fabric staff “commit to observing exemplary religious and moral conduct, even in their private and family life, in accordance with the doctrine of the Church.”
“Staff are required to behave politely while on duty, [be] respectful of the sacred place, and act … properly toward others and [in consideration of] the surroundings,” the document reads.
Also, “special care will be taken to observe the pontifical secret, in accordance with current regulations.”
Likewise, without prior authorization from the archpriest in charge of the basilica, “no one may issue statements and interviews, not even through digital instruments and platforms, regarding the people, activities, environments, and guidelines of the Fabric.”
Furthermore, Article 10 establishes that the staff is obliged to strictly observe confidentiality and will not be able to “provide to anyone who does not have the right to it information about events or news that they have learned due to their work or service.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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