Singaporean Catholics prepare for pope’s arrival

Some 5,000 volunteers are involved in preparations for papal mass at the National Stadium on Sept. 12

Sep 10, 2024

By Vanitha Nadaraj
Groups of volunteers from Singapore parishes gathered outside the National Stadium on Sept. 10, a day before Pope Francis lands in the city-state.

More than 5,000 local Catholic volunteers are involved in preparations for various events, including the papal mass – the high point of Pope Francis’ Sept. 11-13 visit, according to the Archdiocese of Singapore.

A small group is getting the volunteers’ lanyards ready. At the same time, another one is busy with the security arrangements for some 50,000 people expected to greet the pope and attend the mass at the National Stadium on Sept. 12.

The National Stadium, though, was devoid of banners or boards announcing the papal visit. Banners were also absent along the road from the Changi airport.

Some 1,000 Catholics drawn from all 32 parishes will attend a welcome procession on Sept. 11 at Changi’s Jurassic Mile.

Pope Francis and his delegation will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Parliament House on Sept. 12. President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will greet him.

“The pope’s visit to Indonesia was all over the media,” said a Catholic volunteer. But only “the Catholics know about it in Singapore,” he told UCA News.

A Singaporean concurred that “it is mainly the Catholics who are showing interest” in the papal visit. The non-Catholics are either unaware or not at all interested, she added.

The staff at a budget hotel in Geylang, just two kilometers from the airport, said they did not know of any visit by a religious leader. “There is no big booking,” they said.

Ordinary Singaporeans appeared not to know Pope Francis. An airport taxi driver said he had never heard of “Catholics” and seemed more interested in discussing the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix on Sept 22.

“A lot of people will be coming for the F1,” he said.

The last papal visit was in 1986, when Pope John Paul II made a five-hour stopover in Singapore.

Francis will be in Singapore for three days as part of the last leg of his 12-day Asia-Pacific trip, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste.

He will be arriving from Timor-Leste, where more than 98 percent of its 1.3 million people are Catholics.

In Singapore, fewer than 400,000, or about 7 percent of its 5.6 million people, are Catholics.

Singapore has no one dominant religion, making it one of the most religiously diverse cities in the world.

However, an emerging trend picked by surveys shows many Singaporeans are switching religions.

A 2023 survey by Pew Research Center showed that about 35 percent of those surveyed had switched religion in their lifetime, with Christianity and “no religion” increasing and Buddhism and traditional Chinese beliefs declining.

About 20 percent of Singaporeans identify themselves as having no religion, according to the city-state’s 2020 census. About 31 percent are Buddhists, with 19 percent Christians, 8 percent Muslims, and Hindus at 5 percent.

Only about a third of the Christians are Catholics. The rest are Protestants.

Many Singaporeans will likely know about the pope's visit when road closures and bus route disruptions kick in on Sept 11 and 12.

Traffic on roads to and from Changi Airport will be affected for at least five hours on Sept. 11, the day of the pope’s arrival.

The following day, the road to the Parliament will be closed to facilitate the state welcome by the republic’s government.

Traffic on the road leading to the stadium on Sept 12 will likely be restricted as some 50,000 Catholics will be making their way for the Papal Mass along with the pope and his delegation.--ucanews.com