Pope Francis arrives in Singapore, last stop on 12-day tour

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrived in Singapore Wednesday afternoon from East Timor, on the final leg of an ambitious 12-day journey across Southeast Asia and Oceania.

The Aero Dili flight carrying the pope and his entourage arrived in the city-state for a two-night visit that will include a speech to political authorities and a Mass at the National Stadium, which the Vatican expects to draw some 55,000 people.

The pope will also hold private meetings with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, and former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Francis is only the second pope to visit Singapore, following a brief 5-hour layover by the late John Paul II in 1986. The country counts about 210,000 Catholics among its 5.92 million people, according to the Vatican.

The pope arrived from Dili, East Timor’s capital, where on Tuesday he celebrated Mass with an estimated 600,000 of the country’s 1.3 million population, in one of the largest ever turnouts as a proportion of a country’s population for a Mass during a papal visit.

On landing in Singapore, Francis was met by Edwin Tong, the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and received flowers from local school children.

The pope’s schedule for the rest of Wednesday is light, with only a private meeting with the country’s community of Jesuit priests planned. He will continue with the rest of his events on Thursday, before returning to Rome on Friday.

Francis’ 12-day tour has also included stops in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by John Mair)