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Pope's Asian Agenda: Atomic Bombs, Martyrs, Family Reunion

Associated Press

   VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has agendas both pastoral and personal for
   his trip to Asia, where he'll appeal for global nuclear disarmament at
   the sites of the atomic bomb and minister to two tiny Catholic
   communities that have suffered gruesome periods of persecution.

   Emphasizing the dignity of life is also on Francis' to-do list for his
   trip to Thailand and Japan that begins Wednesday, given the scourge of
   human trafficking in Thailand and Japan's use of capital punishment and
   high suicide rate.

   As a young Jesuit, Francis dreamed of being a missionary in Japan,
   inspired by the courage of Japan's Hidden Christians, who braved two
   centuries of persecution to keep their faith alive.

   "In some way, this is the fulfilment of his dream," said the Rev.
   Bernardo Cervellera, editor of AsiaNews, a Vatican-affiliated news
   service.

   In Thailand, Francis will also be reunited with his second cousin,
   Sister Ana Rose Sivori, an Argentine nun who has lived in Thailand
   since 1966 and will serve as Francis' official translator there.

   Here are some highlights of Francis' pilgrimage, his fourth to Asia and
   one that could also touch on the Vatican's delicate relations with
   China:

   Asian martyrs and missionaries

   One of the highlights of the trip will be Francis' prayer at the
   memorial of the 26 Nagasaki Martyrs, who were crucified in 1597 at the
   start of a two-century wave of anti-Christian persecution by Japanese
   rulers.

   Francis' own Jesuit order had introduced Christianity to Japan with the
   arrival of St. Francis Xavier on the archipelago in 1549. After
   converting more than a quarter-million Japanese, missionaries were
   banned at the start of the 17th century. Japanese Christians were
   forced to renounce their faith, suffer tortuous deaths or go
   underground.

   Francis will greet some descendants of these Hidden Christians, whose
   story was recounted in the 2016 Martin Scorsese film "Silence."

   Francis will also honor Thailand's World War II-era martyrs, who were
   victims of anti-Christian persecution by Thais who viewed Christianity
   as foreign and associated with French colonial powers. Francis will
   pray at the sanctuary for Thailand's first martyred priest, Nicolas
   Bunkerd Kitbamrung, who was beatified in 2000.

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