JAKARTA: Pope Francis’s gruelling tour of the Asia Pacific got into full swing on Wednesday (Sep 4), with the 87-year-old appearing in good health and strong spirits as he met Indonesia’s president.
The head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics is on a three-day visit to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, at the start of the longest trip of his papacy.
There are concerns about the impacts of the 12-day tour, which will include Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, on his health.
But the pontiff offered broad smiles when he got off the plane from Rome on Tuesday, and again appeared refreshed and joyful when he met president Joko Widodo on Wednesday morning in the first major set piece of his tour.
A marching band and the presidential guard, including some members on horseback, welcomed Pope Francis to the presidential palace.
He arrived in a civilian Toyota car, sitting in the front passenger seat before getting out in a wheelchair to greet spectators.
Hundreds of children wearing traditional costumes screamed, shouting “welcome pope” and waving flags.
He was greeted by Widodo and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, the country’s president-elect who will take office next month.
Inside the palace, Pope Francis signed a guestbook before heading into his meeting with Jokowi, without making comment.
He got out of his wheelchair using a cane for talks with the Indonesian leader.
Pope Francis said that inter-religious ties must be “strengthened” to fight extremism and intolerance.
Interfaith dialogue is “indispensable to confront common challenges, including that of countering extremism and intolerance,” he said in a speech after meeting the president.
“In order to foster a peaceful and fruitful harmony that ensures peace… the church desires to increase inter-religious dialogue,” he told officials at the presidential palace in Jakarta.
“This is a very historic visit,” Jokowi, who leaves office next month, told reporters Tuesday.
“Indonesia and the Vatican have a similar commitment to peace and brotherhood.”
After meeting Widodo, the pontiff was scheduled to hold a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus – the Jesuit order to which he belongs – at the Holy See’s mission in Jakarta.
Catholics represent fewer than 3 per cent of the population of Indonesia – about eight million people, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.
But they are one of six officially recognised religions or denominations in the nominally secular nation, including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
MEETING THE FAITHFUL
Interfaith ties are the central theme of this stopover and he is due to host a meeting on Thursday with representatives from all six religions at the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia and a symbol of religious co-existence.
He will sign a joint declaration with the mosque’s grand imam focusing on “dehumanisation” through the spread of conflict, as well as environmental degradation, according to the Indonesian bishops’ conference.
But before that he will try to energise the local Catholic faithful on Wednesday afternoon with an address at Jakarta’s cathedral, which sits across the road from the mosque.
The cathedral, linked to the mosque by a “tunnel of friendship”, was rebuilt at the end of the 19th century after a fire and in recent days Christians have been taking selfies with a life-sized pope cutout there.
Pope Francis will end his day with a meeting with young people who are part of a global network of schools aimed at helping disadvantaged children, which he established in 2013.
He will on Thursday host an interfaith meeting and the main event of his Jakarta stopover – a mass at the country’s 80,000 national football stadium, which Catholics are expected to pack out.
The trip to Indonesia is the third ever by a pope and the first since John Paul II in 1989.
Originally planned for 2020 but postponed due to the Covid pandemic, the visit takes place just three months before his 88th birthday.
He had not travelled abroad since visiting Marseille in France in September last year.
Accompanying him to Indonesia are his personal doctor and two nurses, but Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that was standard procedure.