JAKARTA – Pope Francis has arrived in Jakarta for the first of a four-leg journey to southeast Asia that will showcase not only his affinity for the continent, but also his desire to advance the cause of peace and unity amid vast cultural and religious diversity.

The pope landed in Jakarta Tuesday after a 13-hour flight and will have a day of rest before beginning his official itinerary on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

He will be traveling to Asia and Oceania from Sept. 2-13, making stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore, covering more than 20,000 kilometers in total, making this the longest and most taxing international voyage for the 87-year-old pontiff.

Prior to leaving, he met with around 15 homeless men and women who were accompanied by Papal Almoner, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski.

In a brief greeting to the journalists on board his ITA Airlines flight from Rome to Jakarta, the 87-year-old Francis thanked them for their work on such a long trip, noting that this will be the longest trip of his papacy.

He then walked through the cabin and greeted each of them individually, exchanging jokes and receiving gifts, despite ongoing knee issues that often confine him to a wheelchair or the use of a cane.

One journalist gave him an electric fan to use during the trip, as temperatures are expected to be in the mid-80s and low 90s, with high humidity levels throughout the nearly two-week journey.

When another journalist brought up the plight of migrants, Pope Francis – a consistent advocate on behalf of migrants and refugees and who is expected to touch on the issue during his visit – said “they are close to my heart.”

After leaving the airport, Pope Francis met briefly with a group of refugees hosted by the Jesuit Refugee Service in Indonesia, as well as orphaned children cared for by Dominican nuns serving in the country. He also met with elderly people, refugees and homeless individuals cared for by the Sant’Egidio Community in Jakarta.

Francis will kick off his visit to Indonesia, the fourth largest country in the world in terms of population and the world’s largest Muslim nation, by meeting with President Joko Widodo and civil authorities on Wednesday.

He will then hold a private meeting with Jesuits serving in Indonesia before meeting with bishops, clergy and members of religious communities serving in the country. The pontiff will close his first day with an encounter with young people involved in Scholas Occurentes, a youth initiative dedicated to promoting education and social inclusion with the aid of new technologies.

The highlight of Pope Francis’s visit to Indonesia will be an interreligious meeting at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, where on Thursday he will sign a joint declaration along with other religious leaders. The venue will provide him with a platform to further advance dialogue with Islam and speak out against extremism.

Before leaving Jakarta, Francis will meet with the beneficiaries of charitable organizations and celebrate Mass for the country’s minority Catholic population, which consists of around 8 million members.

After Indonesia, the pope will then travel to Port Moresby and Vanimo in Papua New Guinea, a longtime home to Catholic missionaries from around the world, before moving on to East Timor and, finally, Singapore, where he is expected to advance his agenda on China.

Speaking to Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the pope’s visit to Asia and Oceania underlines yet again “the topic of closeness, of proximity that so characterizes the style of his pontificate.”

“Paraphrasing Saint Paul VI, I would say that the farther away – geographically – the countries are that he visits, that much more does the Holy Father feel this urgency in his heart” to go, he said.

Parolin, who was originally scheduled to participate in the trip as part of the pope’s official delegation but who was unable to attend due to the death of his mother, said Pope Francis’s visit to Indonesia, in particular, is an opportunity to celebrate the peaceful religious coexistence it enjoys.

“Relations among various groups have until now been lived well, fundamentally, in the teaching of acceptance of the other, of mutual respect, of dialogue, of moderation,” he said.

What the pope says and does, Parolin said, “will be a strong and pressing invitation to not abandon the path and they will contribute to supporting and encouraging fraternity, which is, as he loves to say, unity in difference.”

Noting that Papua New Guinea has a nefarious reputation for crime and corruption, with its capital Port Moresby recognized as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Parolin said the papal visit to PNG can help shift society in a different direction.

“There are serious problems of poverty, injustice, corruption, and political and economic inequalities, as well as the impact of climate change,” he said, saying, “Pope Francis intends to nurture all efforts possible – on the part of political and religious institutions, but also making an appeal to the responsibility of each person, to provoke a jolt of change” by promoting justice, attention to the poor and care for the common home.

Parolin recalled how while working as a low-level official in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, he spent a great deal of time invested in the conflict between Indonesia and East Timor that resulted in the latter’s independence in 2002.

“I always considered what happened 25 years ago to be a sort of ‘miracle’, with the achievement of independence,” he said, saying the Christian faith, which is a majority in the country and “makes East Timor the first Catholic country in Asia, played a determining role in accompanying efforts toward that goal.”

This faith now can help Timorese “transform society, overcoming divisions, effectively fighting against inequalities and poverty and countering” troubling issues such as violence among youth and against women.

Referring to the pope’s stop in Singapore, Parolin noted that the city-state is home to people from all over the world, and called it a mosaic of different cultures and religious and spiritual traditions.

Given that a majority of the population in Singapore is ethnically Chinese, the country, he said, “constitutes a privileged place for dialogue with the Chinese people and culture in general.”

He hailed the Jakarta visit as an opportunity to advance dialogue with Islam and noted that several of the countries Pope Francis is visiting – Indonesia, Singapore and soon East Timor – are members of ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations), along with countries impacted by conflict, such as Vietnam and Myanmar.

In this sense, he said, “the closeness and message of peace that Pope Francis will bring during this trip are equally directed to all of these realities.”

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