JAKARTA, Indonesia — Pope Francis wrapped up his go to to Indonesia on Friday after celebrating Mass earlier than an overflow crowd of 100,000, a remaining celebration earlier than heading to Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his 11-day journey by way of Southeast Asia and Oceania.
The 87-year-old pope had no official occasions Friday past a farewell ceremony and the six-hour flight to Port Moresby, giving him one thing of a break after a packed three-day program in Jakarta.
The go to culminated with a jubilant Mass on Thursday afternoon earlier than a crowd that stuffed two sports activities stadiums and an overflowed right into a parking zone.
“Don’t tire of dreaming and of constructing a civilization of peace,” Francis urged them in an ad-libbed homily. “Be builders of hope. Be builders of peace.”
The Vatican had initially anticipated the Mass would draw some 60,000 folks, and organizers predicted 80,000. However the Vatican spokesman quoted native organizers as saying greater than 100,000 had attended.
“i really feel very fortunate in comparison with different individuals who can’t come right here and even had the intention to come back right here,” mentioned Vienna Frances Florensius Basol, who got here along with her husband and a bunch of 40 folks from Sabah, Malaysia however could not get into the stadium.
“Though we’re outdoors with different Indonesians, seeing the display screen, I feel I’m fortunate sufficient,” she mentioned from a parking zone, the place a large TV display screen was erected for anybody who did not have tickets for the service.
Whereas in Indonesia, Francis sought to encourage the nation’s 8.9 million Catholics, who make up simply 3% of the inhabitants of 275 million, whereas additionally looking for to spice up interfaith ties with the nation boasting the world’s largest Muslim inhabitants.
Within the spotlight of the go to, Francis and the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, signed a joint declaration pledging to work to finish religiously impressed violence and shield the surroundings.
In Papua New Guinea, Francis’ agenda is aligned with extra of his social justice priorities. The poor, strategically necessary South Pacific nation is house to greater than 10 million folks, most of whom are subsistence farmers.
Francis can be travelling to distant Vanimo to examine in on some Catholic missionaries from his native Argentina who’re making an attempt to unfold the Catholic religion to a largely tribal individuals who additionally apply pagan and Indigenous traditions.
The nation, the South Pacific’s most populous after Australia, has greater than 800 Indigenous languages and has been riven by tribal conflicts over land for hundreds of years, with conflicts turning into an increasing number of deadly in current a long time.
Historical past’s first Latin American pope will possible consult with the necessity to discover concord amongst tribal teams whereas visiting, the Vatican mentioned. One other attainable theme is the nation’s fragile ecosystem, its wealthy pure sources susceptible to exploitation and the risk posed by local weather change.
The Papua New Guinean authorities has blamed extraordinary rainfall for an enormous landslide in Might that buried a village in Enga province. The federal government mentioned greater than 2,000 folks have been killed, whereas the United Nations estimated the demise toll at 670.
Francis turns into solely the second pope to go to Papua New Guinea, after St. John Paul II touched down in 1984 throughout one in every of his prolonged, globetrotting voyages. Then, John Paul paid tribute to the Catholic missionaries who had already been making an attempt for a century to convey the religion to the nation.
Papua New Guinea, a Commonwealth nation that was a colony of close by Australia till independence in 1975, is the second leg of Francis’ four-nation journey. Within the longest and farthest voyage of his papacy, Francis may also go to East Timor and Singapore earlier than returning to the Vatican on Sept. 13.
___
Related Press faith protection receives help by way of the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely accountable for this content material.
