“Please pray with me for everyone in Sri Lanka and the Philippines as I begin my trip”. With this Tweet, Pope Francis called the whole Church to participate in the journey that begins this afternoon. On Sunday, the Pontiff had previously asked for accompaniment in prayer during the midday Angelus Domini in St Peter's Square. That evening he visited the Basilica of St Mary Major, where he spent about half an hour before the image of the Salus Populi Romani.

On Monday morning, during his address to the Diplomatic Corps, the Pope also spoke of the visit to Sri Lanka and The Philippines, a journey that is a sign of his “interest and pastoral concern for the people of that vast continent” of Asia. And to their Governments, he added: “I wish to voice yet again the desire of the Holy See to offer its own contribution of service to the common good, to harmony and social concord”.