By Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA (Reuters) – When Pope Francis visits Indonesia subsequent week, he’ll cease by a mosque in Jakarta that has an uncommon characteristic – a tunnel connecting it to the town’s Catholic cathedral, as a part of a push for interfaith concord on his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour.
The 28.3-metre “Tunnel of Friendship”, connecting the enduring Istiqlal mosque to the Our Girl of the Assumption cathedral, was constructed by the federal government in 2020 as a logo of non secular concord, a theme the worldwide head of the Catholic church has additionally emphasised on his travels throughout his 11-year reign.
Pope Francis, 87, arrives on Tuesday in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, on the primary leg of the longest journey of his papacy that may even take him to Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. The plans have drawn considerations over his rising well being issues.
The pope is scheduled to take part in an interfaith assembly on the mosque, the most important in Southeast Asia, and to go to the tunnel, which options home windows to let in mild and inscribed artwork on the partitions however isn’t but open to the general public.
“It’s extraordinary that the Catholics’ number one figure is coming,” stated Nasaruddin Umar, the grand imam of the Istiqlal, whose huge parking zone is commonly open to churchgoers throughout main occasions. “Whatever your religion is, let’s respect our guest.”
Solely about 3% of Indonesia’s inhabitants of 280 million are Catholic, whereas practically 90% are Muslim.
The pope is scheduled to satisfy outgoing President Joko Widodo and maintain a mass service at a Jakarta stadium, which is anticipated to be attended by greater than 80,000 individuals, stated Rev. Thomas Ulun Ismoyo, an Indonesian church official.
The go to has excited Indonesian Catholics, who haven’t skilled a papal go to in additional than three many years.
“If I could meet him, I could only bow before him. I couldn’t even bring myself to hold his hand,” stated Maria Regina Widyastuti Sasongko, a 77-year-old Catholic girl who sells objects comparable to statues and t-shirts bearing the pope’s face.
Indonesia has been visited by two popes earlier than – the primary, Pope Paul VI in a 1970 journey to Jakarta and in 1989, Pope John Paul II, who visited Jakarta and 4 different cities.
SYMBOL OF FRIENDSHIP; CHEQUERED PAST
Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Indonesia’s non secular affairs minister, stated the pope’s go to was a logo of friendship amongst individuals of all religions in Indonesia.
“The pope’s visit makes Indonesia the barometer of peace and a pillar of tolerance,” he informed Reuters.
Nonetheless Indonesia has had a chequered historical past with non secular concord.
Catholicism got here to the nation by means of Portuguese missionaries in its japanese space within the sixteenth century, however historians say it was banned throughout Dutch colonial rule for about two centuries in favour of Protestantism.
The Vatican formally named a diplomatic consultant in Indonesia within the Forties.
And in trendy Indonesia, formally a secular state, minority religions can nonetheless face discrimination.
The U.S. non secular freedom watchdog has stated that “Indonesia’s religious freedom conditions remained poor” in 2023, citing a number of rules together with ones that led to closures of locations of worship, together with church buildings.
Andreas Harsono, the Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, stated the roots of non secular intolerance, and church closures, had been the legal guidelines that facilitate them.
However for Sasongko, the Catholic girl promoting papal merchandise, the arrival of the pope signifies hope for unity.
“His visit can transform people to love one another,” she stated.
