The leader of the Catholic Church and Jakarta’s Grand Imam Nusaruddin Umar vowed to fight religiously inspired violence and protect the environment, issuing a joint call for interfaith friendship and common cause.
Pope Francis met with Nusaruddin Umar, the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal mosque, for an interfaith meeting on Thursday.
Together they vowed to fight fundamentalism and protect the environment, issuing a joint call for interfaith friendship and common cause at the heart of Francis’ visit to Indonesia.
Pope Francis and Grand Imam Umar were seen embracing each other as they stood outside the mosque to have their picture taken.
They stood at the ground-level entrance of the Tunnel of Friendship, an underpass that connects the mosque compound with the neighbouring Catholic cathedral, Our Lady of the Assumption.
Advocating against religious violence
Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, has held out the tunnel as a tangible sign of its commitment to religious freedom, which is enshrined in the constitution but has been challenged by repeated instances of discrimination and violence against religious minorities.
From January 2021 to July this year, there were at least 123 cases of intolerance, including rejection, closure or destruction of places of worship and physical attacks, Amnesty International reported on the eve of Francis’ visit.
Approaching the lift to the passage, Francis said it was a potent sign of how different religious traditions “have a role to play in helping everyone pass through the tunnels of life with our eyes turned towards the light.”
He encouraged Indonesians of every religious tradition to “walk in search of God and contribute to building open societies, founded on reciprocal respect and mutual love, capable of protecting against rigidity, fundamentalism and extremism, which are always dangerous and never justifiable.”
Pope Francis’ interfaith harmony
The pope and grand imam gathered with representatives of the six religions officially recognised in Indonesia: Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
Pope Francis has made enhancing Catholic-Muslim relations a key focus of his papacy, prioritising visits to majority Muslim countries to achieve this goal.
The new initiative launched on Thursday, called The Istiqlal Declaration, now becomes another pillar of Francis’ interfaith push. Signed by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Umar at a formal ceremony, it was supported by other religious representatives, who were listed as having “accompanied” the declaration but did not co-sign it.
The document said religion should never be abused to justify violence but should instead be used to resolve conflicts and protect and promote human dignity. It also called for “decisive action” to protect the environment and its resources, blaming humanmade actions for the current climate crisis.
The interfaith gathering was the highlight of Pope Francis’ visit to Indonesia, which concludes later Thursday with a giant Mass in Jakarta’s stadium, expected to attract around 60,000 attendees.
Catholics represent about 3% of Indonesia’s population of 275 million, but the country is home to the world’s largest Catholic seminary and has long been a top source of priests and nuns for the church.
On Friday, Pope Francis heads to Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his trip, one of the longest and farthest in papal history, which will also take him to East Timor and Singapore before it ends on 13 September.
