Stanley Vidianto
JAKARTA (Reuters) – When Pope Francis visits Indonesia subsequent week, he’ll cease at a mosque in Jakarta with an uncommon function – a tunnel connecting the mosque to town’s Catholic cathedral, which he’ll go to in The 12-day go to is a part of an Asia-Pacific tour selling interfaith concord.
The federal government constructed the 28.3-meter-long “Friendship Tunnel” in 2020, connecting the enduring Istiqlal Mosque and the Cathedral of the Assumption, as a logo of non secular concord, a theme additionally highlighted by the worldwide chief of the Catholic Church in his speech Touring throughout 11 years.
Pope Francis, 87, will arrive in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, on Tuesday, the primary leg of his longest-running tour that can even take him to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. The plans raised considerations about his rising well being issues.
The pope plans to attend an interfaith assembly at Southeast Asia’s largest mosque and go to the tunnel, which has light-permeable home windows and paintings carved into the partitions however is just not but open to the general public.
“It is actually extraordinary that the primary Catholic determine is coming,” stated Nasaruddin Umar, the grand imam of Istiqlal Cathedral. The car parking zone is usually open to worshipers throughout main occasions. “It doesn’t matter what your spiritual beliefs are, we need to deal with our visitors with respect.”
Solely about 3% of Indonesia’s 280 million individuals are Catholic, whereas almost 90% are Muslims.
The Rev. Thomas Ulun Ismoyo, an Indonesian church official, stated the pope plans to satisfy outgoing President Joko Widodo and maintain a mass at a Jakarta stadium the place crowds are anticipated Greater than 80,000 individuals attended.
The go to excited pleasure amongst Indonesian Catholics, who haven’t skilled a papal go to in additional than three a long time.
“If I might see him, I might solely bow earlier than him. I could not even maintain his hand,” stated Maria Regina Vidiastuti Sasonko, a 77-year-old Catholic girl. Regina Widyastuti Sasongko stated she sells gadgets akin to statues and spiritual gadgets.
Two popes have visited Indonesia earlier than – Pope Paul VI, who visited Jakarta in 1970, and Pope John Paul II, who visited Jakarta and 4 different cities in 1989.
An emblem of friendship; a checkered previous
Indonesian Minister of Spiritual Affairs Yagut Jolil Kumas stated that the pope’s go to is a logo of friendship between individuals of all religions in Indonesia.
“The pope’s go to makes Indonesia a barometer of peace and a pillar of tolerance,” he instructed Reuters.
Nonetheless, Indonesia’s historical past of non secular concord is filled with twists and turns.
Catholicism was launched to the nation within the sixteenth century by means of Portuguese missionaries within the east, however historians say it was banned for about two centuries throughout Dutch colonial rule and changed by Protestantism.
Within the Forties, the Vatican formally appointed a diplomatic consultant in Indonesia.
In trendy Indonesia, formally a secular state, spiritual minorities should face discrimination.
The U.S. spiritual freedom watchdog stated “spiritual freedom circumstances in Indonesia stay poor” in 2023, citing a variety of laws, together with ones which have led to the closure of locations of worship akin to church buildings.
Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated the foundation causes of non secular intolerance and church closures are the legal guidelines that allow them.
However for Sasonko, a Catholic girl who sells papal merchandise, the pope’s arrival means the hope of unity.
“His visits could make individuals fall in love with one another,” she stated.
