Francis in Asia and Oceania

Comfort and challenge from a superstar pope who is still up to the job: Here are seven things that stood out during Francis' visits to Asia and Oceania.

Pope Francis' Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore revealed themes of his pontificate and steps the church can take moving forward.

"It's often when Francis is on the road that he's able to underscore the simplicity that he expects from church leaders," writes Christopher White, NCR's Vatican correspondent. 

During Pope Francis' four-country visit to Asia and Oceania, world leaders were eager to echo the pontiff's focus on combating climate change, calling for commitments to greater global action. 

The pope's rejection of single-issue voting — consistent with his previous teachings on how Catholics should engage in politics — stands in contrast to the official position of the U.S. bishops' conference that declares abortion to be the "preeminent priority" for Catholic voters.

Catholics from China, Vietnam and Malaysia who attended Pope Francis' Sept. 12 Mass in Singapore are hoping the pontiff might also become the first pope to visit their respectives countries, as well. 

Being in the same space as Pope Francis during his visit to Southeast Asia, we wanted to show him that the seeds he planted in his encyclical Laudato Si' are growing strong in our island nation of Timor-Leste.

Francis, the comic strip: Why does Pope Francis go out traveling the world at his age? Brother Leo explains.

Other papal Masses have drawn millions of people in more populous countries, such as the Philippines, Brazil and Poland. But the estimated crowd of 600,000 people in East Timor was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever in terms of the proportion of the population.

In anticipation of Pope Francis' Sept. 11-13 visit to Singapore, scholars and religious practitioners gathered for a conference there on Aug. 29-30 to discuss the Catholic Church's contributions to interreligious relations.

Pope Francis on Sept. 11 landed in Singapore, the world's most religiously diverse country, where he is expected to encourage the country's small but growing Catholic community and to continue his push for pluralism on the Asian continent.

More than 600,000 Timorese attended Pope Francis' history-making Mass in Dili on Sept. 10. 

Francis, the comic strip: Gabby draws some curiosity on the pope's Asia trip.

Pope Francis on Sept. 9 arrived on the small island of East Timor where he issued a broad condemnation of abuse, but stopped short of specifically addressing the church's complicated record on clergy sex abuse in a nation that is the most Catholic country in the world, outside of the Vatican.

The pope's words, said at a mosque in the most populous Muslim nation on earth, invite all of us Catholics to think about how we encounter persons of other religions.

On Sept. 8, Pope Francis visited the remote town of Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, using his ambitious two-week tour in Asia and Oceania to put a spotlight on the Catholic Church in the peripheries. 

Pope Francis, during his first full day in Papua New Guinea on Sept. 7, was confronted with the myriad of challenges facing women in both the church and society. 

Pope Francis' visit to Papua New Guinea will take him to a remote part of the South Pacific island nation where Christianity is a recent addition to traditional spiritual beliefs developed over millennia.

Pope Francis on Sept. 6 arrived in the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea, marking the start of his first ever visit to Oceania, where he will spend the next three nights in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

In a historic encounter at Asia's largest mosque, Pope Francis and Indonesia's grand imam Nasaruddin Umar signed a joint declaration on Sept. 5 calling on religious leaders to deepen their cooperation in order to fight climate change and dehumanization. 

More than 100,000 Catholics gathered for Mass with Pope Francis in Muslim-majority Indonesia on Sept. 5. 

The president of East Timor sees Pope Francis' upcoming visit as a prime opportunity to promote Asia's youngest country on the world stage, not a time to confront the legacy of abuse by influential members of the clergy in the deeply Catholic nation. Many Timorese doubt or are willing to look past the serious charges involving Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, who was secretly sanctioned by the church and is banned from voluntary contact with minors. The pope has met with abuse victims in other countries, but it's not clear if he will do so or address the matter publicly in East Timor.

Pope Francis on Sept. 4 delivered a sharp warning that "distortion of religion" fuels extremism, intolerance and violence and urged Indonesia to double down on its long tradition of coexistence and social harmony during the first full day of his nearly two-week tour of Asia and Oceania. 

Francis the comic strip: Gabby joins Pope Francis on historic trip.

Pope Francis on Sept. 3 kicked off an 11-day swing through southeast Asia and Oceania that is likely to test the physical limits of the 87-year-old pontiff.

Pope Francis will come face to face with the Timorese faithful on his first trip to the country, a former Portuguese colony that makes up half of the island of Timor off the northern coast of Australia. But so far, there is no word if he will meet with victims or even mention the sex abuse directly, as he has in other countries where the rank-and-file faithful have demanded an accounting from the hierarchy for how it failed to protect their children.

Pope Francis will hold an interfaith meeting with representatives of Indonesia's six officially recognized religions as the populous Southeast Asian nation faces growing challenges to its tolerant image.

Pope Francis will visit four countries in Asia and Oceania Sept. 2-13 – his longest trip as pope. It could cement his own legacy on his priorities inside the church and attract the attention of the wider world.