Non secular leaders met on the Istiqlal Mosque and signed a declaration calling for “spiritual concord for the good thing about humanity”.
Pope Francis and Grand Imam Naseeruddin Umar of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque have signed a joint assertion calling for interfaith friendship, opposing spiritual violence and urging unified motion to guard the planet .
The 87-year-old pontiff met Naseeruddin at Southeast Asia’s largest mosque on Thursday, the third day of his go to to Indonesia, the primary leg of a two-week Asia-Pacific tour that may also take him to Papua. New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
Naseeruddin, 65, mentioned the declaration primarily conveys two messages: “First… there is just one human nature, no matter pores and skin colour. Second, methods to save our surroundings.”
Francis started his handle within the mosque by emphasizing the commonality of religions, saying: “By nearer inspection… we uncover that we’re all brothers, all pilgrims, on the highway to God, transcending our variations”.
He warned towards the weaponization of faith to spark battle and considered environmental crises as an existential menace to human civilization.
“Now we have a duty to handle critical… crises that threaten the way forward for humanity, equivalent to wars and conflicts,” he mentioned, including that environmental crises had been “an impediment to the event and coexistence of peoples.”
The pope was welcomed to the mosque by a percussion band usually utilized in Islamic ceremonies, and after sitting down, he and Naseeruddin listened to a younger blind lady recite a passage from the Quran and a passage from the Bible speak.
The Istiqlal Mosque is positioned reverse the Jakarta Cathedral and is related by a “friendship tunnel” as a logo of spiritual brotherhood. Pope Francis visited the tunnel earlier than the assembly, gave his blessing and signed a bit of the tunnel.
The tunnel is seen in Indonesia as a strong image of spiritual freedom, which is enshrined within the nation’s structure however has been challenged by repeated incidents of discrimination and violence towards spiritual minorities.
Amnesty Worldwide famous on the eve of Francis’ go to that from January 2021 to July 2024, there had been at the least 123 instances of intolerance, together with the refusal, closure or destruction of locations of worship and bodily assaults.
Afterward Thursday, Francis will say Mass in entrance of almost 80,000 individuals at Indonesia’s fundamental soccer stadium, with tens of hundreds extra anticipated to attend outdoors the stadium.
Many individuals journey from Indonesia’s huge archipelago of islands to participate within the occasion. Catholicism is likely one of the six formally acknowledged religions or sects in Indonesia, together with Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
They account for lower than 3% of the nation’s inhabitants (about 8 million individuals), whereas Muslims account for 87% (or 242 million).
