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Pope Francis says intends to visit Japan in 2019
VATICAN CITY, Sept 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Pope Francis announced on Wednesday
he intends to visit Japan in 2019, becoming the first pontiff to do so since
John Paul II.
“I would like to communicate my intention to visit Japan next year,” the
pope told a group of Japanese during an audience at the Vatican. “I hope to
be able to fulfil this wish.”
The pope on Wednesday received delegates from the charitable Tensho Kenoho
Shisetsu Kenshokai Association, commemorating a visit in 1585 of four young
Japanese men accompanied by Jesuit missionaries.
The Argentine pontiff has repeatedly said he wants to visit Japan. He had
wanted to work as a missionary there in his youth but abandoned his plan
after an operation on his lung.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1537 hrs