The Holy See Press Office announces Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to Thailand and Japan from 19 to 26 November. He will be the second Pope to visit these two Asian countries, after Pope John Paul II.

The Pope’s next Apostolic Journey will see him visiting two Asian countries: the Kingdom of Thailand, from 20 to 23 November, and then Japan from 23 to 26 November, where he will visit Tokyo, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. A detailed program of the visit will be announced later.

THAILAND

The motto of the first stage of the Apostolic Journey is "Disciples of Christ, Missionary Disciples", and is a reference to an important anniversary. 2019 marks the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of Siam, erected in 1669.

This event is represented in the logo prepared for the visit. Beneath a smiling Pope Francis is a boat that symbolizes evangelization. Its three sails recall the Trinity. The stylized representation of Our Lady’s hand supports the vessel. Finally, a golden cross invites the whole Thai Catholic Church to be a witness to the Good News.

THE ASIAN CONTINENT

In January this year, Pope Francis sent a message to the meeting of Presidents of the Doctrinal Commissions of the Bishops' Conferences of Asia, and a delegation of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in Bangkok. "You are gathered in Asia, a vast and multiform continent, marked by religious, linguistic and cultural diversity”, wrote the Pope, “in order to reaffirm our common responsibility for the unity and integrity of the Catholic faith, as well as to explore new means and methods of witnessing to the Gospel in the midst of the challenges of our contemporary world".

JAPAN
The theme of the Apostolic Journey to Japan focuses on the protection of life and Creation, and is quoted from a phase in “A prayer for our Earth” at the end of the Pope’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, on caring for our common home. In that document, the Pope encourages us to respect both the dignity of each person, but also the environment.

This is particularly poignant in a country like Japan where the nuclear threat, as we read in the description of the motto, "remains a persistent problem”. Three flames of three different colors characterize the logo: a red flame recalling the martyrs, the foundation of the Church in Japan, a blue flame representing the Blessed Virgin Mary who embraces all humanity as her children, and a green flame symbolizing both the nature of Japan, and the mission to proclaim the Gospel of hope. A red circle, like a sun, embraces all life, and symbolizes love.

POPE FRANCIS AND JAPAN: A WISH COME TRUE

The Holy See Press Office announcement of the Apostolic Journey to Japan in November is a wish come true for Pope Francis who wanted to visit the country as a missionary when he was a young Jesuit.

"Over time, I felt the desire to go as a missionary to Japan, where the Jesuits have always carried out a very important work”. These are the words of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as quoted in the book “El Jesuita”, published in 2010.

Japan has held a particular attraction for the Jesuits ever since 1549 when Saint Francis Xavier visited the country. In the five centuries following that first mission, the Society of Jesus has dedicated special attention to the Japanese people and culture.

This attention was strengthened in recent decades by the last two Jesuit Father Generals, Fr Pedro Arrupe and Fr Adolfo Nicolás, both of whom lived in Japan for many years. Not to mention the important role played by Jesuit Fr Giuseppe Pittau, in terms of the cultural dialogue carried forward between Japan and the West.

The Jesuits have always followed a policy of patient inculturation, one that "does not trust in rapid success and immediate results, because God goes three miles an hour, that is, according to the pace of man", as Fr Nicolás noted in a 2014 article for “La Civiltà Cattolica”, entitled "Living the mission in Japan".

A clue to Pope Francis’ own attraction to this particular part of the world can be found in a homily he gave at the Casa Santa Marta at the beginning of his Pontificate. On 17 April 2013, he spoke with admiration of the witness offered by the Japanese Church, which has remained alive despite the persecutions suffered between the 16th and 17th centuries.

What struck the Pope was the strength of the lay faithful, who helped the Church to weather the storm. When the missionaries returned, recalled Pope Francis, they found "all the communities in place, all baptized, all catechized, all married in church".

The Pope expanded on that reflection two years later when he received the Japanese Bishops on their ad limina visit. On that occasion, he referred to the legacy of the Church in Japan as being based on two pillars: the missionaries who, after Saint Francis Xavier, "offered their lives in the service of the Gospel and of the Japanese people", and what he called the "hidden Christians".

When all the lay missionaries and priests were expelled from the country, said Pope Francis, "the faith of the Christian community did not cool down. On the contrary, the sparks of faith that the Holy Spirit kindled through the preaching of those evangelizers" remained "safe thanks to the solicitude of the lay faithful".

The Church in Japan, with its troubled history and abundant blessings, reminds us that Christians are missionaries by nature. "Disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ", to quote the title of the Document of Aparecida, on which Cardinal Bergoglio worked with so much commitment and passion.

It is this missionary Church, which evangelizes by attraction, that Pope Francis has been preaching and witnessing to from the beginning of his Pontificate. One that in "his" Japan finds fertile ground for the small seed of the Good News.