A young Catholic attends the papal Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Staff, Sep 6, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Tuesday landed in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, the first stop on what is expected to be the longest and most demanding international voyage of his pontificate to date.
On Friday, Pope Francis will fly to Papua New Guinea’s capital of Port Moresby, making him the second pope to visit after St. John Paul II, who visited twice.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights of Francis’ trip so far:
On Tuesday morning, Pope Francis landed in Jakarta after a 13-hour flight. Upon the pope’s arrival at Jakarta’s apostolic nunciature, where he is staying during his time in the country, the pope greeted refugees cared for by Jesuit Refugee Service, orphaned children raised by Dominican nuns, and the elderly and homeless accompanied by the Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio in Indonesia.
The pope greets refugees upon his arrival in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
On the pope’s first full day of public appearances in Indonesia on Wednesday, he called upon the political leaders of the world’s largest Muslim-majority country to protect the country’s delicate balance of many cultures and religions by respecting the human rights of all, including minorities. The pope also commended the country’s high birth rate, joking that in the West, some families “prefer to have only a cat or a little dog” to children.
A color guard performs a welcome ceremony for Pope Francis at Indonesia’s “Istana Merdeka” Presidential Palace on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis stands with Indonesian President Joko Widodo during a welcome ceremony at Indonesia’s “Istana Merdeka” Presidential Palace on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
A color guard puts on festivities at the welcome ceremony for Pope Francis at Indonesia’s “Istana Merdeka” Presidential Palace on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis sits with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at Indonesia’s Presidential Palace Hall during a meeting with civil authorities on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis presides at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Jakarta on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Religious gather at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Jakarta where Pope Francis met with bishops and seminarians on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis is greeted at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Jakarta on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
On Thursday morning, Pope Francis met with beneficiaries of charitable organizations at the headquarters of the Indonesia Bishops’ Conference in the country’s capital. He reminded those gathered that each of them “are the most precious members of this Church” who have a specific contribution to give to the universal Church, the world, and their families.
The Holy Father also visited the grounds of Southeast Asia’s largest mosque on Thursday for an interfaith meeting, where he signed a joint declaration condemning religious-based violence with Muslim leader Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar.
Pope Francis speaks at an interreligious meeting at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Men and women attend an interreligious meeting with Pope Francis at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis visits the Istiqlal Mosque for an interreligious meeting in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis greets visitors at the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis speaks at the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis greets a visitor at the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
A visitor greets Pope Francis at the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
That evening, more than 100,000 worshippers participated in Pope Francis’ celebration of Mass at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. The Holy Father encouraged the country’s Catholics to always listen to the word of God — especially in times of weariness, disappointment, and failure.
A young Catholic attends the papal Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis celebrates Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Attendees worship at the papal Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Attendees celebrate the papal Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis presides over Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Upon entering the stadium in a wheelchair, Pope Francis was immediately greeted by loud cheers and cries of “Viva Papa!” from a 60,000-strong crowd at the Mass celebrated in Latin and Bahasa Indonesian. Tens of thousands who could not fit in the stadium gathered in a nearby venue.
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Mumbai, India, Feb 19, 2020 / 09:30 am (CNA).- The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has reelected Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Bombay, as president of the conference for a second term. The election was held on February 17.
Gracias turned 75 in December. In accord with canon law, he has already submitted his resignation to the pope, but is expected to continue as Archbishop of Bombay for the foreseeable future.
The cardinal is also one of the members of the Council of Cardinal Advisers– known as the “C6”–a group of six cardinals who advise Pope Francis on the governance of the universal Church and on the preparation of a new governing constitution for the Roman Curia.
On the same day that Gracias was re-elected by the Indian bishops, the C6 held its first meeting of 2020 with a three-day session in Rome from Feb. 17-19.
Gracias will begin his new two-year term leading the Indian bishops’ conference at a time when the persecution of Christians in the country has increased. In October 2019, Bishop Kishore Kumar Kujur of Rourkela, speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, said that India’s Christians “are living mostly in fear at the present–much more in the north, where they are a minority.”
“There is a fear about how the government will react now the right wing has taken over. We have apprehensions it will not go well for the Christians,” said Kujur.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is widely perceived as favorable to the Hindu nationalist movement and, since his election in 2014, there have been more frequent reports of violence and persecution against Christians.
India was scheduled to host the 2021 Asian Youth Day celebration for young Catholics of the continent, but pulled out of the commitment last month, in part due to fears of governmental hostility to the event.
“Our country was given the responsibility of hosting Asian Youth Day … After consultations with higher authorities, it was decided that it was better to call off the event as the present scenario does not allow us to hold the program,” Bishop Nazarene Soosai of Kottar, head of the Indian bishops’ youth commission, told ucanews Jan. 6.
“We had hoped that there would be a change of government in 2019, but that did not happen and the present situation does not look good either,” added Soosai.
India previously hosted Asian Youth Day in 2003.
Modi’s political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, came to power in 2014, and gained seats in the 2019 election.
According to the 2019 report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, “religious freedom conditions in India continued a downward trend” in 2018.
The commission said India’s “history of religious freedom has come under attack in recent years with the growth of exclusionary extremist narratives—including, at times, the government’s allowance and encouragement of mob violence against religious minorities—that have facilitated an egregious and ongoing campaign of violence, intimidation, and harassment against non-Hindu and lower-caste Hindu minorities. Both public and private actors have engaged in this campaign.”
Gracias’ reelection as head of the bishops’ conference, despite his being past the normal retirement age for a bishop, comes just weeks after the announcement by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, another member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers, that he will step down as head of his own bishops’ conference, in part because of his age.
On Feb. 11, Cardinal Marx said he would not seek reelection as head of the German bishops’ conference. He said he wants to spend more time in his Archdiocese of Münich-Freising and to allow “a younger generation” to lead the Church in Germany. Marx is 66 years old.
Multi-cultural Indonesia has set high standards of welcome and hospitality to His Holiness Pope Francis. Well done.