Pope begins longest papal journey ever

Pontiff bringing medical team on four-country tour of Asia

- NICOLE WINFIELD

Pope Francis, 87, will travel 32,814 kilometres by air during his visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, notching one of the longest papal trips ever, both in terms of days on the road and distances travelled.

If any evidence were needed to underscore that Pope Francis's upcoming trip to Asia and Oceania is the longest, farthest and most challenging of his pontificate, it's that he's bringing along his secretaries to help him navigate the four-country program while keeping up with work back home.

Francis will clock 32,814 kilometres by air during his visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, far surpassing any of his previous 44 foreign trips and notching one of the longest papal trips ever, both in terms of days on the road and distances travelled. The trip begins Tuesday and ends Sept. 13.

That's no small feat for a pope who turns 88 in December, uses a wheelchair, lost part of a lung to a respiratory infection as a young man and had to cancel his last foreign trip at the last minute on doctors' orders.