“Daunting,” “heroic” and even “punishing.” Here’s what to expect during Pope Francis’ Asia-Oceania trip.

In an interview with America, Father Markus Solo spoke about the reasons why Indonesia’s government and its Catholic and Muslim leaders wanted Francis to visit the country, which he described as “young and dynamic.”

How much of Indonesia is Catholic? Is Christianity on the rise? Why is Pope Francis visiting? Here’s what you need to know.

Migration has been a defining reality of the human experience; that is not going to change because of 19th-century innovations like national borders.

The pope’s visit comes only two years after the Vatican acknowledged that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning, East Timorese independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo had sexually abused young boys.

In his General Audience address on Aug. 28 centered on the plight of migrants, Pope Francis said, “The Lord is with our migrants...not with those who repel them.“