Pope Francis to Conduct Asian Trip, Longest Trip During Papacy

Pope Francis of the Vatican will make the longest overseas trip during his papacy in September, the Vatican announced on Friday.

Taking place between September 2, and 13, the Pope's tour will include visiting Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore.

In the past few weeks, Pope Francis' health became a source of concern despite continuing to carry on a busy schedule of meetings at the Vatican and activities related to local parishes.

Officials in the Vatican also discussed adding more spots for the Pope's trip. This week, the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, visited Vietnam and discussed a papal visit.

The Indonesian foreign ministry welcomed the visit of the Pope, saying: “The visit of Pope Francis to Indonesia holds significant importance to the Indonesian people, not only for Catholics but also for all religious communities. The visit is also expected to strengthen the message of tolerance, unity and world peace."

Indonesia has more than 8.5 million Catholic Christians who live together with more than 242 million Muslims and 20 million un-Catholic Christians. 

In the same context, Pope Francis will be the first pope to visit Papua New Guinea since St. John Paul II's visit in 1984.