After abandoning a Japan missionary trip in his teens, Pope Francis announced that he will finally make his way to the island.

“I will go to Japan in November,” he said to a gathering in Panama for Catholic youths.

Japan is home to around 450,000 Roman Catholics and 510,000 Protestants and is a region that Francis are previously expressed interest in.

Francis’ trip to Japan will most likely include a stop at the 26 Martyrs Museum and Monument in Nagasaki where 26 Christians were killed in the year 1597.

Another possible destination will be Hiroshima. In January 2018 Francis issued a photo taken in 1945 showing a boy carrying his dead brother on his back. The child died during the bombing of Hiroshima and on the back of the photo was written “the fruits of war.” Following Francis’ comments on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the mayors of the two cities have asked Francis to visit and encourage survivors. They are not the only people who have urged the Pope to visit Japan as Japanese bishops have invited him to honor the “hidden Christians” who have kept the faith during times of persecution.

Since his election five years ago, the Pope has made trips to the Philippines and Sri Lanka in 2014 and Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2018.

Source: JapanTimes.co.jp