Pope Francis will hold two masses in Bangkok during his four-day visit to Thailand next month and meet the king, prime minister and the nation’s top senior Buddhist monk.
The pope’s schedule was unveiled Wednesday afternoon at The Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Bangkok’s Yannawa district. The high pontiff’s itinerary included meeting King Vajiralongkorn, Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Supreme Patriarch Somdet Phra Ariyavongsagatanana IX.
Pope Francis coming to Thailand in November
He’ll meet Prayuth and his cabinet on Nov. 21 at the Government House, where he will give a speech. He then will visit Wat Ratchabophit to meet the supreme patriarch.
The same day, he will visit patients and medical professionals at Saint Louis Hospital on Sathorn Road. After a meal at the Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of the Holy See, the pope will go to the Amphorn Satharn Villa to see King Vajiralongkorn. The day ends with a mass ritual at the National Stadium.
The next day — Nov. 22 — the pope will visit Catholic priests and bishops at St. Peter Catholic Church in Nakhon Pathom’s Sam Phran district. Then he’ll come back to the Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of the Holy See for a break before holding another mass at Assumption Cathedral in the capital’s Bang Rak district.
The 82-year-old pope will depart Bangkok for Tokyo on the morning of Nov. 23.
The two-day itinerary was announced by Monsignor Andrew Vissanu Thanya-anan, deputy secretary of The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand.
The organization will hold a “media center” at the Holiday Inn Bangkok Silom, a few hundred meters from the Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of the Holy See where the pope will stay. More information will be available on the official website.
Bangkok is the only stop in Southeast Asia that Francis will make. After Bangkok, the pope will visit Japan to meet Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from Nov. 23 to Nov. 26.
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