Pope Francis concludes Asia-Pacific visit to 4 countries in his longest trip ever

BANGKOK (AP) — Pope Francis has wrapped up his longest and most challenging trip ever, which took the 87-year-old pontiff more than 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) by air to four countries in the Asia-Pacific from Sept. 2 to 13.

He visited the country with the world’s largest Muslim population — Indonesia, with about 242 million — and the country with the highest percentage of Catholics outside the Vatican itself — East Timor, with some 98%.

He visited two of the world’s poorest countries — Papua New Guinea and East Timor — and one of its richest — Singapore.

By days and distance, it was one of the longest papal trips ever as Francis sought to reinforce the importance that Asia has to the Catholic Church. It is one of the few places where the church is growing in terms of baptized faithful and religious vocations.

The crowds he drew did not disappoint, with Francis celebrating Mass for about 100,000 people in both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, 50,000 in Singapore and 600,000 in East Timor — nearly half the country’s population.

Francis used the trip to highlight some of his core priorities as pope, including an emphasis on interreligious and intercultural dialogue, care for the environment and insistence on the spiritual component of economic development.

In Indonesia, he urged the country to live up to its promise of “harmony in diversity” and fight religious intolerance in a visit that included meetings with outgoing President Joko Widodo and President-elect Prabowo Subianto. He greeted Catholic priests, nuns and seminarians at Jakarta’s main cathedral.

After a meeting with the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, the two issued a joint call to fight religiously inspired violence and