Pope Francis greets President Joko Widodo of Indonesia outside Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, for an official welcome ceremony Sept. 4, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) Pope Francis arrived in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Tuesday, kicking off the longest and farthest trip of his tenure to the Asia Pacific region.
He is expected to highlight environmental concerns and the importance of interfaith dialogue during the 12 day trip, which will also see him travel to Papua New Guinea, Singapore and Timor-Leste – the only one of the four countries that is predominantly Catholic.
The journey may well be one that presents its challenges for a man who turns 88 in December and has been battling a number of health issues.
Asia Pacific is one of only a few places in the world where the Church is growing in terms of baptised faithful and religious vocations.
Parts of the Pope’s trip, which was originally scheduled in 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic, will retrace the steps of St John Paul II, who also visited the four nations during his 27-year pontificate.
He is only the third pope to visit Indonesia, which has the largest population of Muslims globally.
During his four days there, he is expected to visit the Indonesian capital’s main mosque, meet with outgoing president Joko Widodo and hold a Mass for some 70,000 people, according to the Vatican News.
In Papua New Guinea, the Pope will travel to the remote city of Vanimo to meet with missionaries from his native Argentina who have been reaching out to tribal communities.
In Timor-Leste, the Pope will officiate Mass in the capital Dili, on the same seaside esplanade where John Paul II spoke in 1989 to comfort local Catholics who suffered under Indonesia’s occupation of the territory. Timor-Leste gained independence in 2002.