Pope Francis to visit Thailand, Japan in November

FILE – In this Jan. 15, 2018, file photo, Pope Francis holds a photo of U.S. photographer Joseph Roger O’Donnell of child victims of Nagasaki bombing, aboard his flight to Santiago, Chile. The Vatican said Friday, Sept. 13, 2019, Pope Francis will visit Thailand and Japan on Nov. 19-26. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

BANGKOK  — Pope Francis will visit Thailand and Japan in November in a visit expected to highlight his call for complete nuclear disarmament and honor the small Catholic communities in each country.

The Vatican confirmed the Nov. 19-26 trip to Asia, and its diplomatic representative in Thailand, Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, announced the Thai stop on Friday. Francis will be in Thailand on Nov. 20-23 before heading to Japan.

There has not been a papal visit to Thailand since the late Pope John Paul II came in 1984.

Francis’s Japan visit includes Tokyo as well as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were hit by U.S. atomic bombs at the end of World War II.  /muf