Pope Francis warned against using religion to fuel conflict on the final day of his visit to Indonesia, the first stop on his tour of the Asia-Pacific region.
At the Istiqlal Mosque in the capital Jakarta, the Pope signed a declaration on religious harmony and environmental protection with the mosque’s grand imam and met with local leaders from six religions.
The 87-year-old had earlier on Tuesday begun an 11-day visit to the region, the longest foreign trip of his papacy.
After celebrating mass later in the day before an expected crowd of 80,000 at Indonesia’s main football stadium, he will move on to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
Speaking at the mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, on Thursday, the pope said people of different religions should know that “we are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on the way to God, beyond what sets us apart.”
Humanity is facing a “grave crisis” caused by war, conflict and environmental destruction, he added.
The pope also visited a 28-meter-long tunnel that connects the Istiqlal Mosque to a Catholic cathedral across the street.
He and Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar stood at the entrance to the “tunnel of friendship,” which he said was a “clear sign” of how people of different faiths could have common roots.
Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim majority in the world. Only 3% of its 275 million inhabitants are Catholic.
Indonesia has six officially recognized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
The pope has a busy schedule of public appearances and meetings with church leaders in the Asia-Pacific region, one of the few places in the world where the Catholic Church is growing in terms of baptized believers and religious vocations.
In Indonesia, he has been seen walking around in his wheelchair and waving to adoring crowds, underscoring concerns about his health problems.
Earlier on Wednesday, the second day of his three-day visit, the Pope spoke with the country’s outgoing president, Joko Widodo, in Jakarta.
There he said that Indonesia must fulfill its promise of “harmony in diversity”.
He also praised Indonesians for having large families, sometimes with up to five children.
“Keep it up, you are an example for everyone, for all countries where perhaps, and this may sound funny, families would rather have a cat or a dog than a child,” he said.
His comments were reminiscent of two years ago, when the pope said that having pets instead of children undermines the “humanity” of married couples.
