Pope Francis concludes Friday in Singapore a grueling 12-day tour of four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest and most distant trip of his pontificate during which he will have reassured people about his state of health.
In the morning, Francis, 87, will meet with elderly and sick people and then address young people at an interfaith meeting at a Catholic school in Singapore. He is then due to leave the city-state late in the morning to return to Rome, where he is expected at 6:25 p.m. (1625 GMT).
On board the plane, the Pope will give his traditional press conference in front of the international journalists who accompany him, an exercise he has not engaged in since his trip to Marseille a year ago.
A year after major abdominal surgery, the ambitious 33,000km journey across two continents had raised doubts about the ability of Jorge Bergoglio, who will be 88 in December, to endure such an odyssey.
But neither the frenetic pace – 16 speeches, up to eight hours of time difference – nor the tropical heat, nor the multiple official meetings seemed to bother the head of the Catholic Church, who responded with a smile to the numerous requests.
Throughout his journey, Francis has even displayed astonishing resilience. The highlight on Tuesday was a gigantic crowd bath in Dili, West Timor, among 600,000 elated people, after a two-and-a-half-hour mass in the humid and stifling heat, in this 98% Catholic country.
On several occasions, he indulged in improvisations, particularly in front of the young people, his gaze lively, reacting with interest to the testimonies that were read to him or reminding the interpreter to translate his words.
His face, however, appeared more closed before the honorary military parades, a tradition that has always repelled him, and during the mass in Singapore on Thursday, where the pontiff appeared with features marked by fatigue.
– “Not tired but happy” –
Although the Pope was travelling with his personal doctor and two nurses – the usual protocol – no details have been released about his medical regime, as the Vatican maintains the utmost discretion on this matter, which is considered confidential.
This 45th international trip confirms the importance of traveling abroad for this field pastor, who has always preferred meetings to the glitz of the Vatican and for whom contact with the crowd remains an invigorating source of energy.
“In his mind, the pope does not feel tired but happy. It is a very different perspective, also very Christian, to see things,” the director of the Holy See press office, Matteo Bruni, told AFP.
“Rather than focusing on the fatigue, he emphasizes the joy that fuels him during these visits. And that’s what allows him to move forward,” he adds.
“Stopping is not part of his DNA,” adds a Vatican source. “For him, being pope is lived 100%, at the risk of not listening to himself. And it is also this altruism that touches the faithful.”
This historic tour, initially planned for 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic, saw Francis address a myriad of themes dear to him: dialogue with Islam in Indonesia, the fight against pedocriminality, environmental protection and the defense of the rights of migrant workers in Singapore.
From the mosque of Jakarta to the crowded streets of Dili, the Argentinian Pope from the “end of the world” will have recalled the importance he gives to the global South and to the “peripheries” of a globalized Church that he would like to be more open.
Symbol of this state of mind, a quick round trip to Vanimo, a small remote town at the edge of the jungle of Papua New Guinea – with the powerful image of a pope covered in a traditional tribal headdress with bird of paradise feathers.
From September 26, the head of the Catholic Church will make a new four-day trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, before continuing with the General Assembly of the Synod on the future of the Church in October.
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