The Archdiocese of Bangkok was tight-lipped today about reports that Pope Fracis would visit the kingdom later this year.
Though a diocese spokesman confirmed the 82-year-old pope was planning a visit, he declined to comment further until an official announcement.
“Yes plans are being made, but it is not confirmed yet. As of right now, he might come, he might not,” Warit Sangthong said.
The report in Italian Vatican news source Il Sismografo said Francis would pay a papal visit to the kingdom in November and also visit Japan.
“Pope Fracis had received the invitation from the local churches and the governments of the two countries back in 2013. … Japan and Thailand will be the 13th and 14th Asian nations visited by the current pontiff,” Il Sismografo reported, according to a translation from Italian.
The last pope to visit the kingdom was John Paul II in 1984. Though he was only in the kingdom two days, John Paul met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit in Bangkok on top of visiting a refugee camp in the Panat Nikhom district of Chonburi province. Today, a statue of John Paul still stands in front of Bangkok’s Assumption Cathedral to commemorate the historic visit.
Warit said that visit 35 years ago still holds a special place in many Thai Catholics’ hearts.
In 2013 the Thai government announced that Francis had accepted an invitation from then-PM Yingluck Shinawatra, who was visiting the Vatican at the time.
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