Visiting four nations Sept. 2-13, the 87-year-old Pope will be making the longest trip of his pontificate, both in terms of distance covered and days away from the Vatican.

The trip will include predominantly Muslim Indonesia and predominantly Christian Papua New Guinea, as well as Singapore, Asia’s economic powerhouse, and Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest nations.

Plans were being made for the trip in September 2020, but everything was halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 45th trip of his pontificate is expected to focus heavily on interreligious dialogue, ethnic harmony, care for creation, concern for immigrants and gratitude for the work of missionaries and the Church’s contribution to education and health care.

While from a European or North American perspective all four countries could be considered part of the “periphery” of global Catholicism — those outlying areas Pope Francis prioritizes when accepting invitations — he will stick to the largest city in each nation, with one exception: He will spend about three hours Sept. 8 in Vanimo and Baro, towns on the northwesternmost shore of Papua New Guinea, where he will visit his friend, Fr. Martin Prado, a 35-year-old member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word from Argentina, and see the work he and the Incarnate Word sisters have been doing in the remote area.

But Indonesia is the first stop, and interreligious dialogue and “human fraternity” are expected to be the dominant topics.

Divine Word Father Markus Solo Kewuta, an Indonesian official at the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, said generally Christian-Muslim relations in his homeland are “very peaceful, very kind,” but they can vary in different parts of the country.The country’s main Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, and the Indonesian government both promote official dialogue, peaceful coexistence and simple neighbourliness, Solo said, but there is a worrying new trend of “ghetto building,” or of people looking to live in neighbourhoods where only Muslims or Christians live, which decreases mutual knowledge, trust and cooperation.

In Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, Pope Francis also is expected to talk about the religious obligation to care for creation. All three nations have seen accelerating deforestation as the global market seeks tropical wood, and all three struggle to regulate mining while relying on profits from mineral exports.

Singapore is one of the world’s wealthiest countries, and Pope Francis’ 46-hour visit will include time with some of the island’s poorer residents.