Pope Francis planning Indonesia visit, minister says

Pope Francis is planning a visit to Indonesia and discussions are ongoing with the Vatican about the trip, the predominantly Muslim nation's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi says.

"Yes, Pope Francis plans to visit Indonesia," Retno told Reuters but provided no time frame.

"We are currently preparing everything now."

The Vatican's foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher in an interview in March with Jesuit magazine America said Pope Francis planned to visit Indonesia, Singapore, East Timor and Papua New Guinea in early September, and possibly Vietnam.

The Vatican has yet to confirm dates for the Asia trip, which would be one of the most taxing for Francis, who is 87 and whose health has been poor recently, forcing him to cancel some engagements including some Easter events.

Indonesian media reports, citing the religious affairs minister, have said Francis would visit in September.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation and its eight million Catholics represent about three per cent of the total population of about 270 million people.

The Philippines and East Timor are the only predominantly Catholic countries in Asia.

Indonesia has been visited by two popes before - Pope Paul VI in a 1970 trip to Jakarta and Pope John Paul II, who visited Jakarta and four other cities in 1989.