Cardinal Tagle part of Pope’s Asia trip entourage

Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is part of the delegation of Pope Francis’ 12-day apostolic journey to four countries in Asia. (Photo: Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle/Facebook)

By Ferdinand Patinio, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is part of the delegation of Pope Francis’ 12-day apostolic journey to four countries in Asia.

“Pope Francis has started his Apostolic Journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore, departing from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport,” a post on the cardinal’s Facebook page said on Tuesday.

This is Pope Francis’ longest apostolic visit, which runs from Sept. 2 to 13.

On Tuesday, the Pope landed at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, the first stop of his apostolic visit which would run until Sept. 6.

He would also visit Papua New Guinea from Sept. 6 to 9; Timor-Leste from Sept. 9 to 11 and Singapore from Sept. 11 to 13.

In an interview with Vatican News, Tagle cited the importance of the Pontiff visiting the part of the world where “most of humanity lives”.

“We should also bear in mind that most of humanity lives in these areas of the world. Asia is home to two-thirds of the world’s population. The majority of these people are poor. There are many baptisms among the poor,” he said.

Tagle has been serving as the Vatican’s Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery for Evangelization since June 2022 and president of the Interdicasterial Commission for Consecrated Religious since 2019.

The 87-year-old pontiff visited the Philippines in 2015.