Pope ends Asia trip with call for tolerance to heal troubled world

Pope Francis attends an interreligious meeting with young people at the Catholic Junior College in Singapore, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. Pope Francis is wrapping up his visit to Singapore by praising its tradition of interfaith harmony. (AP Photo)

SINGAPORE – Pope Francis wrapped up his visit to Singapore on Friday by praising its tradition of interfaith harmony, closing out his four-nation trip through Asia with the same message of tolerance that he delivered at the start.

Francis presided over a gathering of young people from some of the religious traditions that are present in Singapore, where mosques, Buddhist temples and Christian churches stand side-by-side among the city-state’s iconic skyscrapers.

In a sign he was enjoying himself, Francis ditched his speech and urged the youths to take risks, even if it means making mistakes. But he came back to the topic at hand to make his main point about the need for people of different faiths to engage in constructive dialogue rather than insist on the righteousness of their particular beliefs.

“All religions are a path to arrive at God,” he said. “They are like different languages to arrive there. But God is God for all.”

It was Francis’ last event before he boarded the Singapore Airlines A35-900 plane for the 12-hour, 35-minute flight back to Rome to complete the longest and farthest trip of his pontificate.

Francis was in Singapore to encourage its Catholics, who make up about 3.5% of the population of just under 6 million, while highlighting Singapore’s tradition of interfaith coexistence. According to a 2020 census, Buddhists make up about 31% of the population, Christians 19% and Muslims 15%, while about a fifth of the population claimed no religious belief whatsoever.

History’s first Latin American pope offered an overwhelmingly positive message in one of the world’s wealthiest countries, praising Singapore’s economic development and making only one public appeal: that it treat its immigrant workers with dignity and a fair wage.

In his public remarks, he avoided any controversial issues such as Singapore’s use of capital punishment, which Francis has declared is “inadmissable” in all circumstances. Francis has raised the church’s opposition to death penalty while visiting countries where it is used, including Bahrain. But at least in his public remarks, Francis made no mention of it while in Singapore, perhaps a show of deference to his hosts during a trip that is likely being closely watched in China, where the Vatican is seeking better ties.

Francis’ 11-day journey took him to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor before Singapore. The 32,814 kilometers (20,390 miles) by air clocked for the trip make it the longest and farthest of his pontificate, and one of the longest ever papal voyages in terms of days on the road and distances travelled. Only some of St. John Paul II’s trips in the 1980s were longer.