Pope Francis will take his first overseas trip of the year and the longest of his 11-year papacy, travelling to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore, the Vatican says.
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The Asia and Oceania trip has been on the papal agenda for some time, but there had been doubts over whether the 87-year-old pontiff would be able to travel given his increasing frailty and a record of skipping engagements due to health problems.
His last international journey was a two-day stay in Marseille, France, in September.
In November, he pulled out of a trip to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai because of a lung inflammation.
Francis is now scheduled to be in Jakarta from September 3-6, Port Moresby and Vanimo from September 6-9, Dili from September 9-11, and Singapore from September 11-13, the Vatican said in a statement on Friday.
Vietnam, which had been suggested by Vatican officials as a possible further destination during the almost two-week-long Asia and Oceania trip, was not mentioned.
The Pope has been suffering on and off from what the Vatican has described as a cold, bronchitis and influenza in recent months and needs a wheelchair or a cane to move around due to a knee ailment.
His agenda this year also foresees Italian day trips to Venice on April 28, Verona on May 18 and Trieste on July 7, and a visit to Belgium, dates for which have not been confirmed but are expected in the second half of September.
The Argentine Pope, the first from the so-called Global South, has made reaching out to Asia one of the priorities of his pontificate, during which the Vatican has struck a historic yet contested deal with China on bishop appointments.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation and its eight million Catholics represent about three per cent of the total population.
Timor-Leste, along with the Philippines, are Asia's only predominantly Catholic countries.
In Singapore, Catholics comprise about seven per cent of residents aged 15 or older, a 2020 census showed, while in Papua New Guinea, about 26 per cent of the population are Catholics, according to a religious freedom report by the US State Department.
Australian Associated Press
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