Pope Francis announced the longest trip of his pontificate: he will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Singapore and Papua New Guinea

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Vatican City.-Pope Francis will visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore from September 2 to 13, in one of the longest trips of his pontificate, the Vatican reported this Friday.

The Holy See reported that accepting the invitation of the respective Heads of State and ecclesiastical authorities, Pope Francis will visit Jakarta from September 3 to 6; Port Moresby and Vanimo from September 6 to 9, Dili from September 9 to 11 and Singapore from September 11 to 13.

Greater details of the program will be published soon, the Vatican added.

It will be the longest trip so far for the 87-year-old Argentine pontiff, who suffers from mobility problems and must travel in a wheelchair and who has had respiratory problems in recent months.

Until now, the longest had been the one to Cuba and the United States, which lasted almost 9 days, while it will also be the first time that the journey includes four countries.

As the Indonesian authorities had explained, the pope’s visit was scheduled for 2020, but due to the Covid 19 pandemic it was postponed.

For Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, it will be the third visit by a pontiff, since the first pope to travel to the archipelago was Paul VI, who on December 3, 1970, on the last of his international apostolic trips, stopped in Jakarta. , where he was warmly received by then-President Suharto.

From October 8 to 12, 1989, Pope John Paul II traveled to Indonesia on a trip that was marked by an open-air mass at the Jakarta stadium, and by stops in Medan, North Sumatra, Yogyakarta, in central Java and Flores and on that same trip, Karol Wojtyla also went to Dili, in what was then still the Indonesian province of East Timor.

While John Paul II also traveled to Singapore in 1986, on his trip to several Asian countries.Infobae.