VATICAN CITY — A little more than two months before his apostolic journey to the Southeast Asian city-state, Pope Francis received yesterday the President of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in a private audience at the Vatican.
Tharman is currently in Rome for a plenary of the Group of Thirty (G30) hosted by the Bank of Italy and a meeting of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.
These meetings provided him with the opportunity to have a foretaste at the Vatican of the much-anticipated visit that Francis will make in Singapore on 11-13 September, which will make him the third pontiff after Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1986 to travel to this important crossroads in Asia.
Since the audience was private, the Holy See did not release any communiqué. However, the president wrote about it in a Facebook post, saying that Francis spoke to him about the need to end war and conflict across the world, to stop “the immense human suffering it continues to inflict.”
The two men also discussed interfaith harmony, which is “more important than ever.” To this end, the president said that he “shared Singapore’s continuous efforts to preserve harmony between our many faiths, both through leadership engagements and activities on the ground.”
“In the traditional exchange of gifts, Pope Francis gave me a bronze cast depicting two hands shaking, a woman with a child, and a migrant ship, against the backdrop of St. Peter’s colonnade in the Vatican City. With a simple and profound description: ‘Let’s fill our hands with other hands’.”
Mr Tharman went on to say: “We are looking forward very much to welcoming Pope Francis during his State Visit to Singapore in September this year.”
At present, preparations continue in Singapore for the visit, which will culminate in a Mass that Pope Francis will lead on 12 September at the National Stadium.
Starting tomorrow until 31 July, Singaporeans can request a ticket to attend the liturgical service through the diocesan app myCatholicSG. About 40,000 tickets are available. Registration is free, personal, and non-transferable, and open to non-Catholics.
If requests exceed the number of places available, a draw will be held, with a waiting list for those who are excluded. The ticket availability will be indicated directly on the app in August and applicants must confirm their presence by August 31st to allow others to apply in case of cancellation.
Special places have been set aside for senior citizens and the disabled, thanks to direct action by parishes.
The Mass in Singapore will also be an important moment for other Catholic communities in Southeast Asia.
Some seats at the National Stadium will be allocated to groups from Brunei and the dioceses of neighbouring Malaysia, which no pontiff has yet to visit. In these countries, local dioceses will handle tickets. Together, the Church in the three countries constitute the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia – Singapore – Brunei.
Alongside the logistics, the spiritual preparation for the visit of Pope Francis is equally important, this according to Card William Goh, Archbishop of Singapore.
Hence, the diocese has released a prayer for the faithful to prepare themselves for the visit, expressing hope that the pope’s presence might “bring Catholics together in faith, love, hope, and mission so that, as Church, we may bring unity to a divided and polarised world by spreading the Word of Life to all.”
