Pope Francis sets off on his Apostolic Journey to Thailand and Japan, 32nd Apostolic Journey abroad. The papal plane departed from Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Tuesday evening at around 7:15 PM.
It is scheduled to touch down in the Thai capital of Bangkok at 12:30 PM local time.
Pope Francis will be in Thailand until Saturday, and follows in the footsteps of Pope St John Paul II, who visited in May 1984.
Catholics number around 325,000 in Thailand, or 0.59% of the population. Some 80% of Catholics are Thai, with immigrants accounting for a rising portion of the faithful.
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin says Pope Francis will likely encourage Christians to be missionary disciples as the Church celebrates 350 years since the first Jesuit missionaries proclaimed the Gospel there.
On Saturday, Pope Francis will travel to Japan for a 4-day visit, from Saturday until Tuesday.
Catholics make up only 0.42% of the population, or around 600,000 faithful. The Pope is expected to encourage efforts toward denuclearization, especially during his whirlwind visit to both Nagasaki and Hiroshima on Sunday.
He returns to Rome on Tuesday, 26 November.
Source:
Vatican News
