Pope Francis is located this Wednesday in Singapore for a 48 hour visit, the fourth and final stage of his marathon tour to the southeast of Asia and Oceaniawhich will conclude on Friday.
Thirty-eight years after John Paul IIFrancis arrived shortly before three in the afternoon (07:00 GMT) in the city-state of six million inhabitants, where on Thursday he will speak to the authorities and officiate a mass in a stadium. On his tour, the Argentine pope He has previously visited Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
Last leg of his tour
Under a cloudy sky, he was greeted by dozens of people in a park in Singapore, to shouts of “Long live Papa Francesco!”, said an AFP journalist present.
This Wednesday, the tenth day of a frenetic journey, the Pope has only one planned private meeting with Jesuits in the afternoon.
Singapore is one of the most developed countries in Asiabut it is also The target of criticism on human rights grounds and for the severity of its judicial systemwhich continues to apply the death penalty. The very cosmopolitan city-state is home to a majority of population of Chinese origin, and significant Indian and Malay minorities. The Christians represent around the 19% of the population, mostly Buddhist.
Erik Hon, a 45-year-old financial worker and Buddhist, said he was “delighted” by the pope’s visit and hoped it would spread “a message of love, peace and unity.”
On Thursday morning, Jorge Bergoglio will be received in Parliament and will meet with the president Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. He will then address authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps.
Health of the Argentine Pope
“The Pope will probably focus on some global issues, which are not specific to any one country,” said Michel Chambon, a theologian and anthropologist who is a researcher at the National University of Singapore. Despite his health problems and the tiring pace of this trip of 12 days, the longest and longest of his pontificate, the head of the Catholic Church, 87 years old, showed himself in good shape and smiling.
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Courtesy of EFE Agency
“It’s a very long and hard journey“considering his age and health,” said Marcus Voon, a health professional in Singapore who plans to attend Thursday’s mass.
Your journey through Asia-Pacific
On Wednesday morning, before flying to Singapore, the Pope concluded his three-day visit to East Timor with a meeting with young people in the capital Dili, where he was again cheered by tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets. His visit was eagerly awaited in a country where the 98% of the population declares itself Catholichad as its main course a gigantic mass outdoors, for more than two hours, which brought together some 600,000 faithful.
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He record of his papacy was in the capital of Philippines, Manila, in 2015where it is estimated that the Argentine Jesuit gathered six million people. The tour will conclude on Friday after a a 33,000-kilometre journey through four countries: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
Source: Ambito
