Pope Francis in Nagasaki, 2019

Pope Francis's journey to Thailand and Japan ran from November 19 to 26, 2019. On Sunday the 24th he flew from Tokyo to Nagasaki, arriving at 9:20.¹

At 10:15 he spoke at the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park. He began with two objects from the cathedral: "The damaged cross and statue of Our Lady recently discovered in the Cathedral of Nagasaki remind us once more of the unspeakable horror suffered in the flesh by the victims of the bombing and their families."¹²He called the arms race "an affront crying out to heaven," declared himself "convinced ... that a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary," and noted that the bishops of Japan had launched an appeal for abolition that July. He ended with the peace prayer attributed to St. Francis, knowing, he said, "that some here are not Catholics."²

At 10:45 he went up to the Martyrs' Monument on Nishizaka Hill.¹"I have come here as a pilgrim to pray, to confirm you in the faith, and to be confirmed by the faith of these brothers and sisters," he said. The shrine bore the names of those martyred "starting with Paul Miki and his companions on 5 February 1597," yet it was "above all a monument to Easter." He recalled that Pope St. John Paul II had called the hill a true "Mount of the Beatitudes," and spoke personally: as "a young Jesuit from 'the ends of the earth'," he had "found powerful inspiration in the story of the early missionaries and the Japanese martyrs." He asked that their sacrifice not be "a glorious relic of the past, to be kept and honored in a museum," but "a living memory." The Angelus followed.¹³

At 14:00 he celebrated Mass in the baseball stadium. On Christ the King he preached on the good thief, and named "Saint Paul Miki and his companions" and "the hundreds of martyrs whose witness is a distinguished element of your spiritual heritage."¹⁴That evening he flew on to Hiroshima.¹