Pope concludes Asia-Oceania trip, returns to Rome 

Pope Francis’ flight left Singapore at 12:25 p.m. local time (6:25 a.m. Rome time) on September 13, 2024, and is due to land in Rome at 7:00 p.m., bringing an end to his 12-day trip across Asia and Oceania. Before leaving, Pope Francis had two last appointments, one with a group of elderly and one with a group of young people from different faiths. 

At Singapore’s Changi airport the Pope participated in a brief departure ceremony before leaving the country a little over 30 minutes behind schedule. This concludes the longest trip of his pontificate (in terms of distance and days); it lasted 12 days, spanned four countries spread out in two continents, with around 44 hours of fight time and some 32,000 km (19,8883 miles) traveled.

During the flight back to Rome, which should last around 12 hours and 35 minutes, Pope Francis is expected as usual to answer questions from journalists who have followed him on his journey across Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. 

As has been the case since the start of his journey across Asia and Oceania, Pope Francis appeared dynamic in the morning of September 13, honoring his last appointments in Singapore enthusiastically and with a smile. Before joining young people at the Catholic Junior College for an interreligious meeting, he first met privately for around 20 minutes with the bishops of the episcopal conferences of Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei, as well as men and women religious from these regions. 

He then visited a group of sick and elderly people at the St. Theresa home. He toured this peaceful Church-run facility before asking the 30 or so elderly and sick people who lived there, including former Singapore Archbishop Nicholas Chia, to pray for him and for the world.

He then moved on to the Catholic Junior College for a final interreligious gathering, where he was welcomed by 600 young people to the sound of drums and cheers. The Pontiff watched a local dance performance featuring four children with Down syndrome, and then listened to testimonies from young people of different religions: Hinduism, Sikhism, and Catholicism.

The 87-year-old Pope completely abandoned his speech to engage in an impromptu dialogue with the three young people who were on stage. “A young person who chooses to always spend his life in a 'comfortable' way is a young person who gets fat!,” the Pope said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “But he does not fatten his belly, he fattens his mind!"

"That is why I say to young people, 'Take risks, go out! Don't be afraid!' Fear is a dictatorial attitude," he said.

“A young person who does not take risks, who is afraid of making mistakes is an old man! Understand?,” the Pontiff insisted.

He urged them to have the “courage” to dialogue, to build, to criticize, and get out of one’s comfort zone. He especially highlighted that interreligious dialogue is important -- an element that is characteristic of the multireligious environment of Singapore.

"One of the things that has impressed me most about you young people, about you here, is the capacity for interfaith dialogue," the Pope said.

He praised them for dialoguing instead of arguing.

“If you start arguing, 'My religion is more important than yours...,' 'Mine is the true one, yours is not true....' Where does this lead? Where?" A young person from the crowd provided the answer: "Division."

The Pope suggested what he called a "comparison" saying that religions lead to God like "different languages, different idioms."

"But God is God for everyone," he said. "And because God is God for everyone, we are all God's children. [...] There is only one God, and we, our religions are languages, paths to get to God. Some [of us are] Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian, but they are different paths. Understood?"

The Pope reiterated for these young people, "interfaith dialogue" takes courage. "But youth is the age of courage," he said.