On flight home, Pope Francis speaks of S'pore as 'New York of the East'

He praises country's strong inter-religious culture, cleanliness and 'very polite people'

- Wong Pei Ting

On Day One of Pope Francis' visit to the Asia-Pacific, I called him "Your Holiness", unsure of how he would react if I misspoke. But on Day 12 the last day of moving as a unit of about 150 as part of his entourage "Papa Francesco" and "Santita❞ are no longer awkward terms for me.

"Papa Francesco," I said, my words opening a press conference that would round up the arduous 12-day tour with Singapore as its last leg.

We are not in a room in the Vatican City, but 10km above ground on a chartered Singapore Airlines flight conveying the pontiff - who has not been away from the Vatican this long in his 11-year tenure - from Singapore back to Rome, Italy.

A few minutes earlier, the rear section of the plane was abuzz with activity as some among the approximately 80 Vatican-accredited media personnel rolled out wires across the floor of the Airbus A350-900 plane to catch a clean audio feed.

Portable speakers were also placed on overhead stowage bins to combat the loud droning sounds of a plane in motion.

I watched as Pope Francis left his business class seat and inched towards us, clutching his walking stick in one hand.

"I want to thank all of you for your work, for your company on this trip, which is important," he said after settling down in his portable seat two arms' length away from me.

It was 1.12pm, about 45 minutes after we had lifted off from Changi Airport.

My interest, of course, was in Singapore: What did you witness as the realities of Singapore – the culture and the people? What inspired the message on protecting the dignity of migrant workers? What can Singapore learn from the other three countries we visited?