Pope Francis is greeted by Thai priests on arriving at Military Air Terminal 2 at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok on Nov. 20 at the start of a seven-day Asian tour that will also take in Japan. (Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP)
Pope Francis has begun a visit to Thailand and Japan on which he will fly more than 25,400 kilometers in a week.
His flight to Bangkok with his entourage and 69 journalists on board left Rome on the evening of Nov. 19 to arrive in Bangkok around midday on Nov. 20.
As he usually does on such flights, about a half-hour after takeoff the pope came to the back of the plane to greet the journalists who will report on the trip. It is a chance for him to meet them one by one and share some pleasantries before his and their work begins. He walked up one aisle and down the other, shaking hands with each journalist and followed by staff members who carried the books, pictures, letters and other gifts some journalists gave him.
Possibly in order to give the 82-year-old pontiff a chance to recover at least a bit from the 11.5-hour trip and the six-hour time difference, his schedule in Bangkok will provide ample opportunity for rest.
The pope’s first officially scheduled activity will be on the morning of Nov. 21, being officially greeted and meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, various civil authorities and the diplomatic corps. He will then go to a Buddhist temple to visit the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand.
Following that, and until lunch, Francis will visit St. Louis Hospital in Bangkok to meet staff and patients.
The next event is not scheduled until 5pm, a short private visit to King Vajiralongkorn, to be followed by the celebration of Mass at 6pm in Bangkok’s National Stadium. That will mark the end of the day.
On the morning of Nov. 22, the pope will meet with clergy, religious, seminarians and catechists at a parish church for about an hour. Then he will spend another hour or so with Thai bishops and representatives of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.
Before lunch, he will meet Jesuits living in Thailand. He has a break until about 3.30pm when he will go to Chulalongkorn University to meet Christian leaders and representatives of other religions. The day will end with a 5pm Mass with young people at Bangkok’s Cathedral of the Assumption.
The morning of Nov. 23 will start with a six-hour flight to Tokyo, where the schedule promises to be full.
Nuclear weapons on agenda
Unlike the trip to Thailand, the Japan leg of his journey has a theme that is expected to underlie what he says and does in the country. The theme, “Protect All Life,” comes from a line in the pope’s encyclical Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home.
Within an hour of his early-evening arrival, Francis will meet with the bishops of Japan. A major topic will likely be a letter sent to him by the archbishop emeritus of Tokyo, Takeo Okada, in which he criticizes the Vatican administration, the curia, for being a hindrance to evangelization in Asia by being unsupportive of inculturation, by being authoritarian and by giving the impression that there is no spirituality underlying its activities.
On Nov. 24 morning, the pope will take an early-morning two-hour flight to Nagasaki, where he will first go to the hypocenter of the Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing of that city. He is expected to speak about nuclear weapons.
From the bombing site, he will go to Nishizaka, the hill in Nagasaki where the persecution of Christians in Japan began in earnest in the 16th century with the crucifixion of 26 Catholics.
Following lunch, the pope will lead a 2pm celebration of Mass at Nagasaki Baseball Stadium before catching a 4.30pm plane to Hiroshima. After that one-hour flight, he will join a Meeting for Peace at the site of the atomic bombing of that city. In the evening, he will fly once again for an hour and a half to Tokyo.
On Nov. 25 morning, Francis will meet with victims of the earthquake-tsunami-nuclear power plant explosion disaster of March 11, 2011, before going to the Imperial Palace for a private visit to Emperor Naruhito.
Before lunch, the pope will meet with young people, both Christians and non-Christians, at Tokyo’s St. Mary’s Cathedral.
At 4pm, he will lead a celebration of Mass at the Tokyo Dome stadium and after that will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, civil authorities and the diplomatic corps.
The pope’s final morning in Japan, Nov. 26, will be largely focused on his Jesuit confreres. He will celebrate a private Mass with them, join them for breakfast and visit their elderly and infirm. Two of Japan’s Jesuits, including the provincial superior, were students of the pope in Argentina.
When he leaves the Jesuits, Francis will make a quick visit to their Sophia University to see students before departing at about 11.30am for Rome and another 12 hours in the air.
So, by the time Pope Francis returns to the Vatican from this seven-day journey, he (and this reporter) will have spent about 34 hours in flight.