Pope, Vatican finalize trip arrangements

2 January 2015 12:59 pm

The Vatican on Friday said it was finalizing details for a trip mid-month by Pope Francis to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

A media briefing next week will set out more information about the apostolic trip by the pope to Sri Lanka from January 12 to 15 and then the Philippines from January 15 to 19.

Visiting these Asian nations signals a new interest and attention by the Church towards a "predominant portion of today's and tomorrow's humanity, both from a demographic point of view," and because of its incredible diversity, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi was quoted as saying by Vatican Radio.  (ANSA)