JAKARTA: Pope Francis arrived in Muslim-majority Indonesia on Tuesday to kick off a four-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific that will be the longest and farthest of the 87-year-old’s papacy.
The head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics touched down in capital Jakarta for a three-day visit devoted to inter-religious ties, and will then travel to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
The 12-day tour will test the pontiff’s increasingly fragile health, but he is often energised by being among his flock and he emerged from the 13-hour flight smiling and waving. “I thank you for coming on this journey. I think it is the longest one (flight) I have done,” he told reporters aboard his chartered plane after landing, according to an AFP journalist.
He disembarked in Jakarta in a wheelchair to an honour guard, greetings by Indonesian officials, including the religious affairs minister, and a traditional bouquet from two children.
The pontiff was then picked up from the red carpet by a civilian Toyota car, choosing a modest vehicle over one of luxury typically used by world leaders. He had no official engagements scheduled Tuesday following the long flight from Rome, but the Vatican said he hosted a meeting with a group of orphans, migrants and homeless people at its Jakarta mission shortly after he arrived.
The pope is scheduled to meet President Joko Widodo on Wednesday in the first major set piece of his visit to the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
“This is a very historic visit,” Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, told reporters Tuesday.
“Indonesia and the Vatican have a similar commitment to peace and brotherhood.”
Catholics represent fewer than three percent 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.
On Thursday, Francis will meet representatives of all six at Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia and a symbol of religious co-existence.
It is linked via a “tunnel of friendship” to the cathedral across the road, where Christians in recent days have been taking selfies with a life-sized pope cutout.
He will then host a mass and deliver a sermon at Indonesia’s 80,000-seat national football stadium.
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