Pope Francis and Indonesia imam name for unity towards non secular violence | Faith Information

Non secular leaders meet at Istiqlal Mosque and signal declaration calling for ‘non secular concord for the sake of humanity’.

Pope Francis and Nasaruddin Umar, the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, have signed a joint declaration calling for interfaith friendship, taking a stand towards non secular violence and urging unified motion to guard the planet.

The 87-year-old pontiff met Nasaruddin on the mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, on Thursday, on the third day of his go to to Indonesia, the preliminary leg of a two-week tour of Asia Pacific, which can even take him to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.

Nasaruddin, 65, stated that the declaration centered on two messages: “The primary one … humanity is just one, there are not any colors. The second, learn how to save our surroundings.”

Opening his speech on the mosque, Francis emphasised the commonality of religions, stating that “by trying deeply … we uncover that we’re all brothers, all pilgrims, all on our option to God, past what differentiates us”.

He warned towards the weaponisation of faith to stoke conflicts and in addition raised the environmental disaster as an existential menace to human civilisation.

“We tackle the duty to handle the intense … crises that threaten the way forward for humanity equivalent to wars and conflicts,” he stated, including that the environmental disaster was “an impediment to the expansion and co-existence of peoples”.

The pope was welcomed to the mosque by a percussion band typically utilized in Islamic ceremonies and as soon as seated, he and Nasaruddin listened to a passage from the Quran recited by a younger blind lady and a passage from the Bible.

Istiqlal Mosque sits throughout from Jakarta’s cathedral, linked by a “tunnel of friendship” as an emblem of spiritual fraternity. Francis visited the tunnel earlier than the assembly, delivering blessings and signed a bit of the tunnel.

The tunnel is held up in Indonesia as potent image of spiritual freedom, which is enshrined within the nation’s structure, however has been challenged by repeated cases of discrimination and violence towards non secular minorities.

From January 2021 to July 2024, there have been at the very least 123 circumstances of intolerance, together with rejection, closure or destruction of locations of worship and bodily assaults, Amnesty Worldwide famous on the eve of Francis’s go to.

In a while Thursday, Francis will ship mass to just about 80,000 folks in Indonesia’s major soccer stadium, with tens of 1000’s extra anticipated exterior.

Many individuals have travelled from throughout Indonesia’s huge island archipelago for the occasion. Catholicism is considered one of six formally recognised religions or denominations in Indonesia, together with Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

They signify fewer than 3 % of the inhabitants of the nation – about eight million folks – in contrast with the 87 % – or 242 million – who’re Muslim.