The Vatican on Friday officially announced that Pope Francis will visit Papua New Guinea in September, 2024.
This announcement comes following an initial visit by an advance team from the Vatican who met with Prime Minister James Marape in February and discussed the proposed date and arrangements for the papal visit.
The Holy See Press Office has now announced in a statement the Pope’s visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timo Leste and Singapore.
"Accepting the invitation of the respective Heads of State and Church Authorities, Pope Francis will undertake an Apostolic Journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore from 2 to 13 September. He will visit Jakarta from 3 to 6 September, Port Moresby and Vanimo from 6 to 9 September, Dili from 9 to 11 September and Singapore from 11 to 13 September."
The Pope is scheduled to depart Rome on September 2 and return on September 13.
He travels first to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, where he will land on September 3 and remain until September 6.
Pope Francis will then fly east to visit Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, and Vanimo on September 6-9.
His next stop will be in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, on September 9-11.
From there, the Pope will travel to Singapore for a 3-day visit on September 11-13.
According to the Holy See Press Office, the full programme of his Apostolic Journey will be published at a later date.
In the meeting between Prime Minister James Marape and the Vatican team in February, the Prime Minister expressed appreciation that the Pope is visiting PNG and said his government is ready to welcome him and make his visit a success.
Preliminary discussions were also held then with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Justin Thatchenko to map out a plan for the visit.
Minister Thatchenko in February said the papal visit is a state visit and will be guided by strict Vatican protocols and security arrangements, taking into consideration the Pope’s advanced age at 87.
It will be the Pontiff’s first visit to the country and the Oceania region.
Pope Francis first mentioned the possibility of travelling to the region in December 2023.
In an interview with the Mexican broadcaster N+, he said he hoped to travel to “Polynesia” in August and to his native Argentina later in the year.
Then, in January 2024, the Pope told an interviewer with the Italian newspaper La Stampa that he would visit Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, and Catholics number over 8 million, or 3.1 percent of the population.
Around 32 percent of Papua New Guinea’s population are Catholic, numbering around 2 million.
Timor-Leste is overwhelmingly Catholic, accounting for around 96 percent of the population, counting over 1 million people.
Some 395,000 Catholics live in Singapore, representing around 3 percent of the population.