JAKARTA:
Indonesia’s national stadium, typically reserved for rockstars and presidents, drew over 80,000 attendees on Thursday for a Catholic Mass led by Pope Francis. The 87-year-old pontiff’s visit to Jakarta was the highlight of his four-day stay in the capital, the first stop of a 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania, with planned visits to East Timor, Singapore, and Papua New Guinea.
Among the attendees was Mami Yuli, a transgender woman dressed in a glittery gown and feathered headdress. She likened the Pope’s presence to that of Jesus and hoped his message of tolerance would inspire a more positive attitude towards the transgender community in Indonesia, a group that faces significant discrimination. “We endure a lot of pressure, which limits our movement as transwomen in Indonesia,” Yuli said.
During his address from a stage decorated with a golden cross, Pope Francis called on his audience to foster fraternity and dialogue. “Be builders of unity. Be builders of peace,” he urged.
The event took place in Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, where Catholic nuns, students, and elderly individuals joined to hear the Pope’s homily.
Catholic nuns wearing their habits, students and the elderly crowded into Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, with church officials saying 87,000 tickets for the Mass were distributed across the world’s largest archipelago.
Earlier in the day, Pope Francis visited Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, where he signed a declaration addressing climate change and promoting interfaith dialogue as a means to resolve conflict.
Although 87% of Indonesia’s 280 million citizens are Muslim, approximately 3% of the population is Catholic. Indonesia officially recognises six religions, and religious freedom is guaranteed by the constitution.
During his stay, the Pope also met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, encouraging political leaders to remain vigilant against the threat of religious extremism. In a gesture of respect for the Pope’s Mass, the government suggested that the Islamic call to prayer be omitted from broadcasts during the event, with television stations instead displaying it as text to avoid disrupting the service.
Sister Maria Ambrosia, a nun who had travelled hundreds of kilometres from Sumatra to attend the Mass, expressed her admiration for the Pope’s humility and joy. “I have tons of hope and happiness,” she said of the event.
Earlier in the day, Pope Francis encouraged both Muslims and Catholics to urge global leaders to address the twin challenges of climate change and extremism. As part of his visit to Southeast Asia’s largest mosque, Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, he signed a joint declaration with Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar and other religious leaders. The declaration called for urgent action to combat environmental degradation and safeguard the planet.
The declaration highlighted the harmful impact of human exploitation of the environment, emphasising the consequences of climate change, including natural disasters and unpredictable weather patterns. “We sincerely call on all people of good will to take decisive action in order to maintain the integrity of the natural environment and its resources,” the declaration read. This was formally signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam at Istiqlal Mosque, a vast domed structure covering nine hectares in central Jakarta.
Pope Francis also attended an interfaith gathering outside the mosque’s main entrance, which began with a young woman’s plaintive recitation of a passage from the Quran. He referred multiple times to a newly constructed underground tunnel connecting the mosque to Jakarta’s Catholic cathedral, located across the street. The 28-metre (90-foot) long passage, known as the “tunnel of friendship,” symbolised, according to the Pope, the shared roots of different faiths. “We could say that what lies ‘underneath,’ what runs underground, like the ‘tunnel of friendship,’ is the one root common to all religious sensitivities: the quest for an encounter with the divine,” Pope Francis remarked.
The Pope’s visit to Indonesia continues until Friday, after which he will move on to other countries in his tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania.
