Pope to visit St Theresa's nursing home, Catholic Junior College during Singapore visit
06 July, 2024
Pope Francis will visit St Theresa's nursing home and meet with students at Catholic Junior College during his visit to Singapore in September.
Pope Francis will visit Singapore from Sep 11-13 as part of his Asia tour, meeting with leaders, celebrating mass at the National Stadium, and visiting St Theresa's nursing home and Catholic Junior College.
According to an itinerary released by the Vatican, the pope will also meet with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, as well as celebrate mass at the National Stadium.
Pope Francis will be in Singapore from Sep 11 to 13 – the last leg of his Asia tour. He will be visiting Indonesia from Sep 3 to 6, Papua New Guinea from Sep 6 to 9 and Timor-Leste from Sep 9 to 11.
According to the itinerary, Pope Francis will arrive in Singapore at 2.15pm on Sep 11, before holding a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus at St Francis Xavier Retreat Centre. The following day, he will attend a welcome ceremony at Parliament House and meet with Mr Tharman and Mr Wong. Following that he is expected to hold a meeting with "authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps" in the theatre of the Cultural Centre of the National University of Singapore.
He will celebrate mass at the National Stadium from 5.15pm on Sep 12.
His third day will comprise visits to St Theresa's nursing home and Catholic Junior College, before he departs Singapore at about 11.50am.
The last time a pope visited Singapore was in 1986 when John Paul II made a five-hour stop as part of his Asia-Pacific tour that included Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia.
Thousands attended a papal mass at the National Stadium during that visit.
Earlier this year, there were questions about the health of 87-year-old Pope Francis and if his tour of Asia would go ahead.
He uses a wheelchair and has suffered health issues in recent years, from knee pain to surgeries for a hernia and on his colon.
Known for his work ethic, the Pope never takes holidays but has been forced to make concessions due to his age and health, including cancelling a trip to UN climate talks in Dubai last year.
The September trip will represent a major physical challenge, involving more than 30 hours of flight as well as a series of meetings and masses.
It will also be the longest trip for the Argentine since he became head of the worldwide Catholic Church in 2013.
Pope Francis had been due to visit Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Indonesia in September 2020 but the trip was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com