JAKARTA, Indonesia
Pope Francis, 87, landed in Muslim-majority Indonesia on Tuesday for a visit dominated by inter-faith ties, at the start of an ambitious four-nation tour that will be the longest of his papacy.
The pontiff left Rome on
Monday afternoon and landed in Jakarta just before midday Indonesian time, the
first stop in a 12-day voyage that will also take in Papua New Guinea, East
Timor and Singapore.
Covering about 32,000km
(almost 20,000 miles), the tour – the longest and farthest of his 11 years
leading the worldwide Catholic church – will test Francis’s increasingly
fragile health. In recent weeks the pontiff has appeared in good spirits.
Catholics represent fewer than
3% of the population of Indonesia, or about eight million people, compared with
the 87%, or 242 million, who are Muslim. In the officially secular
country, Catholicism is
one of six officially recognised religions or denominations, also including
Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
On Thursday, Francis will meet
representatives of all six at Istiqlal mosque, the largest in south-east Asia
and a symbol of religious coexistence. It is linked via a “tunnel of
friendship” to the cathedral across the road, where Christians in recent days
have been taking selfies with a lifesize cutout of the pope.
At the mosque, Pope Francis will
sign a joint declaration with the grand imam, Nasaruddin Umar.
The statement will focus on
“dehumanisation”, notably the spread of violence and conflict, particularly to
women and children, as well as environmental degradation, according to the
Indonesian bishops’ conference.
The pope has repeatedly urged
the world to do more to combat climate change and mitigate its effects –
including rising sea levels, which threaten the heavily polluted megalopolis of
Jakarta.
Security is tight for the
three-day visit, with the military, police and members of the president’s own
detail among more than 4,000 law enforcement officers deployed.
A billboard declaring “Welcome
Pope Francis” has been put up in central Jakarta, while the government has
ordered a special stamp in his honour.
The country’s religious
affairs ministry has hailed the visit as a symbol of Indonesia’s religious
diversity.
“It is very important in
conveying a message and showing the world that religious harmony in Indonesia
is guaranteed and has been implemented,” ministry spokesman Sunanto, who goes
by one name, said on Monday, according to state news agency Antara.
It is the third papal visit to
Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,500 islands, after Paul VI in 1970 and John
Paul II in 1989.
Despite Indonesia’s official
recognition of different faiths, there are concerns about growing
discrimination, including against Christians, with local Catholics hoping the
pope will speak out.
Michel Chambon, a theologian
and anthropologist at the National University of Singapore, said the pope would
be pressing a wider message he has already delivered in other Muslim-majority
countries, from Iraq to Bahrain, Turkey and Morocco.
The visit “is not really aimed
at Catholics in Indonesia” but is intended to highlight the global importance
of Islamic-Christian dialogue, he told AFP.
Francis will meet the outgoing
president, Joko Widodo, during his visit and hold meetings with young people,
diplomats and clergy. He will also preside over a mass in an 80,000-seat
stadium, one of several such events during the tour, the 45th overseas trip of
his papacy.
Originally planned for 2020
but postponed due to the Covid pandemic, the visit takes place three months
before his 88th birthday.
The pope has come to routinely
use a wheelchair to move around, underwent hernia surgery in 2023 and has been
plagued by respiratory issues.
He has not travelled abroad
since visiting Marseille in France in September 2023, having cancelled a
planned address at UN climate talks in Dubai two months later.
He will be travelling to
Indonesia with his personal doctor and two nurses, but Vatican spokesman Matteo
Bruni said that was normal and no extra precautions were in place.
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