Pope Francis to take anti-nuclear mission to Japan's ground zeros
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis takes his mission to ban nuclear weapons this week to the only places where they were used in war, visiting the World War Two ground zeros of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as part of a tour of Japan and Thailand.
The seven-day trip, one of his longest and most distant, gives Francis an opportunity to support and encourage the tiny but well respected Catholic communities, which make up less than 1% of the population in each country.
In fact, the Catholic populations of each country - 389,000 in Thailand and 536,000 in Japan - are smaller than crowds he has attracted at single events in other countries.
Francis, making the 32nd trip since he became pope in 2013, leaves on Tuesday for Thailand, where he arrives on Wednesday afternoon after an 11-1/2 hour flight to Bangkok.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-asia/pope-francis-to-take-anti-nuclear-mission-to-japans-ground-zeros-idUSKBN1XR0BV