On the final leg of his 12-day journey to the East, Pope Francis moved from three countries struggling with poverty to a world of opulence in Singapore, the world’s third-largest financial hub.

Pope Francis is “popular among Catholics here, but may also be [seen as] influential among the general public, which sees him as an international leader for peace, harmony and equality,” Francis Lim, S.J., said.

Some 600,000 Catholics in Timor Leste, almost half the population of the majority-Catholic country, attended the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on the evening of Sept. 10.

Pope Francis is the first pope to visit Timor Leste since the country won independence in 2002.

Pope Francis' 12-day trip continued with a visit to the remote city of Vanimo in Papua New Guinea.

Arriving in Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis called for greater efforts toward material development and lasting peace in the rural country, which has been plagued by economic underdevelopment and violence.