Pope Francis yesterday arrived in Muslim-majority Indonesia, the first stop in his four-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific that would be the longest and farthest of the 87-year-old’s papacy.
The head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics touched down in capital, Jakarta, for a three-day visit devoted to interreligious ties, and would then travel to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
The 12-day tour would test the pontiff’s increasingly fragile health, but he is often energized by being among his flock and he emerged from the 13-hour flight smiling and waving.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I thank you for coming on this journey. I think it is the longest one [flight] I have done,” he told reporters aboard his chartered plane after landing, according to an Agence France-Presse journalist.
He disembarked in Jakarta in a wheelchair to an honor guard, greetings by Indonesian officials, including the religious affairs minister, and a traditional bouquet from two children.
The pontiff was then picked up from the red carpet by a civilian Toyota car, choosing a modest vehicle over one of luxury typically used by world leaders. He had no official engagements scheduled yesterday following the long flight from Rome, but the Vatican said he hosted a meeting with a group of orphans, migrants and homeless people at its Jakarta mission shortly after he arrived.
The pope is scheduled to meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo today in the first major set piece of his visit to the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority country.
“This is a very historic visit,” Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, told reporters.
“Indonesia and the Vatican have a similar commitment to peace and brotherhood,” he said.
Catholics represent fewer than 3 percent of the population of Indonesia — about 8 million people, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.
However, they are one of six officially recognized religions or denominations in the nominally secular nation, including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
Tomorrow, Francis is to meet representatives of all six at Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia and a symbol of religious co-existence.
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 life-sized pope cutout.
He would then host a Mass and deliver a sermon at Indonesia’s 80,000-seat national soccer stadium.
Despite Indonesia’s official recognition of different faiths, there are concerns about growing discrimination, including against Christians, with local Catholics hoping the pope would speak out.
However, Michel Chambon, a theologian at the National University of Singapore, said the pope would press a wider message he had 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 said.
That message was already being felt by some in Jakarta.
“We enjoy it because when it’s our religious events, they [Catholics] also show tolerance to us,” said Ranggi Prathita, a 34-year-old Muslim who has been selling customized pope T-shirts. “We all respect each other.”
At the Istiqlal Mosque, Pope Francis is to sign a joint declaration with its grand imam focusing on “dehumanization” through the spread of conflict, as well as environmental degradation, the Indonesian bishops’ conference said.
Francis has repeatedly urged the world to do more to combat climate change and mitigate its effects — including rising sea levels, which threaten Jakarta. Indonesia has experienced terrorist attacks over recent decades, including radical Islamist bombings on Bali in 2002.
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