Pope Francis is already in Japan. The second pontiff to step on the land of the birth of the sun – after the trip of John Paul II in 1984 – fulfills his youthful dream of visiting the Asian country on mission, inspired by the first Jesuit missionaries who carried the announcement of the Gospel.
ZENIT’s Senior Vatican Correspondent, Deborah Castellano Lubov, is covering the trip from the Papal Flight.
#PopeinJapan: #PopeFrancis has arrived in #Tokyo… to a much different climate — strong winds, rain, and cold– than in #Thailand…. Stay tuned with Zenit on the Papal Flight pic.twitter.com/QVcm4LJdW9
— ZenitEnglish (@zenitenglish) November 23, 2019
Upon arrival at Tokyo-Haneda Airport, at 5:45 p.m. local time in Tokyo (9:40 a.m. in Rome), the Holy Father was welcomed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Tarō Asō, upon getting off the plane, in in the middle of a great storm with rain and wind, very different from the warm climate of Thailand , the previous leg of the Pope’s apostolic journey.
#PopeinJapan has arrived in Tokyo!!:
.. to a much different climate — strong winds, rain, and cold– than in #Thailand…. (video shaky due to very strong wind gusts and rain ) pic.twitter.com/iyN1Qvs9VV— ZenitEnglish (@zenitenglish) November 23, 2019
Two children dressed in traditional costumes presented the Pope some flowers, in the presence of 100 students from Catholic schools. Then, after the respective greetings between the Vatican and Japanese delegations, and after having passed in front of the Honor Guard, the Pope and the prime minister entered the VIP room 3 of the airport together to chat privately.
Telegrams
During the air trip from Bangkok to Tokyo, the Thai Airways International A330 plane has flown over Laos, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, countries whose respective heads of states the Pope has sent telegraphic messages invoking his best wishes for peace and prosperity for all of them.
At the end of the welcome ceremony held at the Tokyo-Haneda airport, the Pope was transported by car to the Apostolic Nunciature of Tokyo, where upon arrival, he has been received by a group of 200 faithful in the courtyard, and in the entrance of the house of the staff of the Nunciature.
#PopeFrancis just arrived in #Japan! ZENIT's @DeborahLubov, from the Papal Flight, brings you scenes from the windy, rainy arrival
Here's our EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW w/ #Archbishop #Kikuchi of #Tokyo#法王 #教皇 #PopeinJapan #PapainGiappone @PopeInJapan https://t.co/2qP6ZLPFSx pic.twitter.com/NL7uj6VqCx
— ZenitEnglish (@zenitenglish) November 23, 2019
