Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, is accompanying Pope Francis on a historic four-nation tour that begins with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, for a visit dominated by inter-faith ties.

Tagle said the visit, which will cover almost 40,000 kilometers, will be the Pope’s longest and most demanding Apostolic Visit and was actually scheduled as early as 2020 before it was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For him, embracing this effort is an act of humility, too. It's not a show to portray what one is still capable of. As a witness, I call it an act of humility before the Lord who calls us: an act of humility and obedience to the mission,” he said in an interview on Vatican News.

He added the Pope also plans to visit Luxembourg and Belgium.

“It seems to me that, with these journeys, he wants to encourage Catholics in all the contexts in which they find themselves. We should also bear in mind that most of humanity lives in these areas of the world. Asia is home to two-thirds of the world's population,” he said.

The pontiff left Rome on Monday afternoon and is due to land in Jakarta on Tuesday morning (around 0430 GMT), the first stop in a 12-day voyage that will also take in Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.

“Papua New Guinea is also a multicultural country, with various tribes that occasionally come into conflict with each other. But it is a country where diversity can be a resource. If we suspend our preconceptions, even in tribal cultures, we can find human values close to Christian ideals,” Tagle said.

“It is significant that the Pope will reach Indonesia and, subsequently, Timor-Leste. These two countries have a history of struggle and are now at peace. It is a fragile peace, but thanks to both countries, it seems lasting,” he added.

“The government in Singapore guarantees freedoms to all communities of worshippers and protects them from attacks and disrespectful acts. Offenses against religion are severely punished. People live safely, and so do tourists. But a balance is needed. History teaches us to be careful that law enforcement does not end up contradicting the very values that laws are supposed to protect,” Tagle said.

Catholics currently represent fewer than three percent of the population of Indonesia -- some eight million people, compared to the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.

But they are one of six officially recognized religions or denominations in the secular nation, also including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

Tagle said the “great gift of the Holy Spirit to the Indonesian Catholic community is that of a coexistence that does not deny diversity.”

“The Pope's visit will hopefully bring new lifeblood to the fraternity between believers of different religions,” he added.

On Thursday Francis will meet representatives of all six at Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia and a symbol of religious co-existence.

It is linked via a "tunnel of friendship" to the cathedral across the road, where Christians in recent days have been taking selfies with a life-sized cutout of the pope.

At the mosque, Pope Francis will sign a joint declaration with the grand imam, Nasaruddin Umar.

The statement will focus on "dehumanization", notably the spread of violence and conflict, particularly to women and children, as well as environmental degradation, according to the Indonesian bishops' conference.

Francis has repeatedly urged the world to do more to combat climate change and mitigate its effects -- including rising sea levels, which threaten the heavily polluted megalopolis of Jakarta.

Security is tight for the three-day visit, with the military, police and members of the president's own detail among more than 4,000 law enforcement officers deployed.

A new billboard advert declaring "Welcome Pope Francis" has been put up in central Jakarta, while the government has ordered a special stamp in his honour.

It is the third papal visit to Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,500 islands, after Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1989.

DISCRIMINATION AND DIALOGUE

The independent Jakarta Post newspaper hailed the visit in an editorial Monday as "highly significant for the advancement of interreligious relations" both in Indonesia and abroad.

Despite Indonesia's official recognition of different faiths, there are concerns about growing discrimination, including against Christians, with local Catholics hoping the pope will speak out.

The Jakarta-based Journalists' Union for Diversity (SEJUK) told AFP it had recorded eight violations of religious freedom in August alone, including the banning of church construction, attacks on temples and assaults.

But Michel Chambon, a theologian and anthropologist at the National University of Singapore, said the pope would be pressing a wider message he has already delivered in other Muslim-majority countries, from Iraq to Bahrain, Turkey and Morocco.

The visit "is not really aimed at Catholics in Indonesia" but is intended to highlight the global importance of Islamic-Christian dialogue, he told AFP.

"There are divisions even within the Catholic Church. Some leaders think that good interreligious dialogue is all well and good, but that it will not go further than peaceful coexistence," he added.

FRAGILE HEALTH

Francis will meet outgoing President Joko Widodo during his visit, and hold meetings with young people, diplomats and local clergy.

He will also preside over a mass in a 80,000-seat stadium, one of several such events during the tour, the 45th overseas trip of his papacy.

Originally planned for 2020 but postponed due to the Covid pandemic, the visit takes place just three months before his 88th birthday.

The Argentine now routinely uses a wheelchair to move around, underwent hernia surgery last year and has been plagued by respiratory issues.

He has not travelled abroad since visiting Marseille in France in September 2023, having cancelled a planned address at United Nations climate talks in Dubai two months later.

He will be travellng to Indonesia with his personal doctor and two nurses, but Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said this is normal, saying no extra precautions were in place.

“Truly, I am younger than the Pope, and these long journeys are heavy even for me,” Tagle told the Vatican’s Fides News Agency. 

“For him, embracing this effort is an act of humility, too. It's not a show to portray what one is still capable of. As a witness, I call it an act of humility before the Lord who calls us: an act of humility and obedience to the mission.” 

Father Jerome Secillano, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commission Affairs said the Pope embarks on an “Apostolic Journey” to recognize the belief of the faithful which he will visit, encourage them to either renew or convert into the Catholic faith and to also help address issues in the country that he is visiting.

“Halimbawa, yung suppression ng pananampalataya, o pwede rin namang mga issues na bordering on morals. O di kaya pwede ring ecological issue. Yung mga ganung usapin ang binibigyan ng pansin ng Santo Papa sa tinatawag na Apostolic Journey,” Secillano said.

The Philippines’ exclusion from the tour should not be a cause for envy among Filipino Catholics, since Pope Francis visited them right after super typhoon Yolanda wrought havoc in the country in 2013, Secillano said.

“Bumabagyo rin noon nung dumating ang Santo Papa, pero hindi nya alintana yung ganung weather condition. Ipinakita pa rin nya yung kanyang closeness sa mga Pilipino. In fact, ilang araw sya dito sa kanyang Papal Visit. At ipinahayag nya yung kanyang affinity, yung kanyang closeness, yung kanyang pagmamahal, at yung kanyang pagpapahalaga sa pananampalataya natin,” Secillano said.

(There was also a typhoon when the Holy Father visited. But he was unperturbed. He showed his closeness to Filipinos. In fact, his Papal Visit ran for several days. He expressed his affinity, his closeness, love and care to our faith)

“Kaya binibisita yung bansang Indonesia, Singapore, alalahanin natin na for example sa Indonesia ang majority ay Muslim. Pero hindi naman nangangahulugan na hahayaan nya yung mga mananampalatayang Katolika na andyan sa lugar na yan.. yung kanyang pagpunta roon palagay ko, to inspire also the minority Christians living in that part of the world,” the CBCP official pointed out.

(He is visiting Indonesia and Singapore because we have to remember that in Indonesia, majority are Muslims. But that doesn’t mean that we will just leave the minority Catholics in that country behind. He will visit to inspire the minority Christians living in that part of the world)

© Agence France-Presse