What is happening?
On Friday, September 13th, Pope Francis ended his twelve-day journey to Southeast Asia and Oceania. After landing in Indonesia, the pontiff proceeded to Papua New Guinea and East Timor before returning to the Vatican from Singapore. During the trip, he met various statesmen and religious leaders, also in remote parts of the countries he visited. The Pope’s masses attracted tens of thousands of visitors at each stop; notably, around 600,000 people attended his mass in East Timor – almost half of the country’s entire population. Speaking to leaders and masses alike, the Pope raised some of the most pressing topics, such as climate change and social inequality.
What is the broader picture?
In Indonesia, Pope Francis issued a joint declaration with Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar inviting Catholics and Muslims to push their leaders to address climate change and extremism. Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque was a highly symbolic place for delivering his message: located in the world’s most populous Muslim country, it is the globe’s third-largest mosque (following the mosques in Mecca and Medina.) In the spirit of interreligious dialogue, a newly constructed tunnel connects the mosque with the nearby Catholic Cathedral. Nevertheless, there have been reports of rising religious intolerance across Indonesia.
Indonesian news outlets highlighted Francis’ lack of ostentatiousness as he rode around in a humble Toyota Innova and stayed at the nunciature rather than a luxurious hotel. The positive attention that the pontiff attracted starkly contrasted with public discontent over the extravagance of Indonesia’s ruling classes: four officials recently went viral over social media posts showing off designer handbags and expensive cars. On the other hand, foreign news outlets criticized the Pope’s failure to take responsibility for the Church’s sexual abuse cases in East Timor. While Francis mentioned “the many children and adolescents whose dignity has been violated,” he did not allude to the Church’s role in covering up the scandals.
Why does it matter?
Apart from championing environmental and social causes, Pope Francis is trying to build new bridges outside and within Europe. Observers note that his visit to Jakarta’s main mosque built on his broader agenda of fostering a global Islamic-Christian dialogue, which he has pursued during previous visits to the Middle East and North Africa. Francis has long defended Muslim refugees in Europe. Additionally, during his visit to Singapore, he praised the country’s ethnic harmony and urged fair treatment for migrant workers, many of whom hail from Muslim countries.
Previously, Francis alluded to another important goal: visiting Vietnam. The Catholic Church’s relationship with the communist countries of East Asia is strained, and no pope has ever visited Vietnam or the People’s Republic of China – as a matter of fact, the Holy See remains the only diplomatic ally of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Europe. However, the Vatican is putting considerable effort into changing the status quo, as shown by a recent visit to Hanoi by Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s de facto foreign minister. Last year, the Pope extended an olive branch to Beijing during the first-ever papal visit to Mongolia, offering a special greeting to the “noble Chinese people.” The Vatican is primarily looking to improve relations with the PRC as it tries to renegotiate a controversial deal that gives the Chinese Communist Party significant power over the appointment of local bishops.
