Pope Francis flew back to Rome from Dhaka airport Saturday afternoon, concluding his 21st foreign visit outside of Italy that took him to Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

The Pope was given an official farewell at Dhaka airport, where the Minister for Foreign Affairs was present to see him take off on a Bangladesh Airlines aircraft on his flight back to Rome. 

‎The Pope was in Myanmar, Nov…

On Saturday, the last day of his three-day visit to Bangladesh, Pope Francis visited a home for orphans, unwed mothers and destitute elderly run by the nuns of Mother Teresa.   In off-hand remarks to the nuns and priests there he praised Bangladesh for having what he called some of the best inter-religious relations in the world.  The Holy Father later met priests, religious and seminarians.

His last meeting of the entire trip was with young Bangladeshis, among whom were also Muslims and followers of other religions…

Pope Francis left Myanmar for Bangladesh on Thursday, concluding the first part of his 21st apostolic journey. He’ll be spending three days in Dhaka, before returning to the Vatican late on Saturday evening.

During his visit to Myanmar, the pope met with popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as the president and the top military general. He met with Buddhist leaders and local bishops, but above all he went to meet ordinary Catholics, who travelled from all over the country to attend an open-air Masson Wednesday…

On Thursday morning, the last day of his apostolic journey to Myanmar, Pope Francis celebrated a morning Mass for young people, gathered at St Mary’s Catholic cathedral in central Yangon.

It was the last event of this four day visit to Myanmar and it was the one which best captured the hopes of the country, struggling to find its way to becoming a modern, democratic, developed nation…

Pope Francis has met with the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s Armed Forces during the first day of his Apostolic Visit to the country.

The Pope held talks with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at the Archbishop of Yangon’s residence shortly after his arrival in Myanmar on Monday.

Following the courtesy visit, which lasted 15 minutes, the pair exchanged gifts…

In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on the last judgement, the subject of the day’s Gospel reading.

He noted that this is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the day on which the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. Christ’s kingship, he said, is one “of guidance and service, but it is also a kingship that at the end of time will be asserted in judgement.” The vision of the second coming of Christ, presented in the Gospel, introduces the final judgment, when all of humanity will appear before Him, and Jesus, exercising His authority, will separate one from another, “as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

Pope Francis recalled the criteria that Jesus says will be the foundation of His judgment: “What you did for the least of my brothers, that you did on to me.” This sentence, the Pope said, “never fails to strike us, because it reveals to us” the end to which God is willing to go on account of His love for us…