Religious leaders gather at Istiqlal mosque and sign a declaration calling for “religious harmony for the sake of humanity.”
Pope Francis and Nasaruddin Umar, grand imam of Jakarta's Istiqlal mosque, have signed a joint declaration calling for interfaith friendship, taking a stand against religious violence and urging united action to protect the planet.
The 87-year-old pontiff met Nasaruddin at the mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, on Thursday, the third day of his visit to Indonesia, the opening leg of a two-week Asia-Pacific tour that will also take him to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
Nasaruddin, 65, said the statement focused on two messages: “The first… humanity is one, there are no colours. The second, how to save our environment.”
Opening his speech at the mosque, Francis highlighted the similarity of religions, saying that “looking deeply… we discover that we are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on the journey toward God, beyond what differentiates us.”
He warned against using religion as a weapon to fuel conflict and also raised the environmental crisis as an existential threat to human civilization.
“We assume the responsibility of addressing the serious… crises that threaten the future of humanity, such as wars and conflicts,” he said, adding that the environmental crisis was “an obstacle to the growth and coexistence of peoples.”
The Pope was welcomed into the mosque by a percussion band often used in Islamic ceremonies and, once seated, he and Nasaruddin listened to a passage from the Koran recited by a young blind girl and a passage from the Bible.
The Istiqlal mosque is located opposite Jakarta's cathedral and is linked by a “tunnel of friendship,” a symbol of religious fraternity. Francis visited the tunnel before the meeting, imparted blessings and signed a section of it.
The tunnel is seen in Indonesia as a powerful symbol of religious freedom, enshrined in the country's constitution, but has been challenged by repeated cases of discrimination and violence against religious minorities.
Between January 2021 and July 2024, at least 123 cases of intolerance were recorded, including rejection, closure or destruction of places of worship and physical attacks, Amnesty International said on the eve of Francis' visit.
Later Thursday, Francis will celebrate Mass before nearly 80,000 people at Indonesia's main soccer stadium, with tens of thousands more expected outside.
Many people have travelled from across Indonesia's vast island archipelago to attend the event. Catholicism is one of six officially recognised religions or denominations in Indonesia, including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
They make up less than 3 percent of the country's population – some eight million people – compared with 87 percent – or 242 million – who are Muslim.
