BANGKOK, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrived in Thailand on Wednesday to satisfy with the nation’s small however devoted Catholic minority on a seven-day Asian journey that may embody a household reunion in Bangkok and take his anti-nuclear message to Japan.
The pope’s airplane touched down exterior Bangkok round noon for a go to that coincides with the 350th anniversary of the primary papal mission in Siam, the previous identify of Thailand.
“Expensive mates in Thailand and Japan, earlier than we meet, allow us to pray collectively that today could also be wealthy in grace and pleasure,” learn a message on the pontiff’s official Twitter account earlier than he left the Vatican.
Catholics are a tiny minority in principally Buddhist Thailand, accounting for lower than 2% of the inhabitants.
Pope Francis will meet King Maha Vajiralongkorn, in addition to the supreme Buddhist patriarch and Catholic leaders and college students earlier than he strikes on to Japan on Saturday.
His translator in Thailand can be his cousin and childhood good friend, Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, 77, who has labored in Thai colleges for greater than 50 years. (Modifying by Simon Cameron-Moore)
