During his visit to Indonesia, Pope Francis and the grand imam of the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta signed the ”Joint Declaration of Istiqlal 2024,” which aims at “fostering religious harmony for the sake of humanity.”
Pope Francis
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Jakarta’s Grand Imam ‘very much hopes’ Pope Francis will enter Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia
Pope Francis will arrive at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia, tomorrow morning, where he will sign an important document with the grand imam, Nasaruddin Umar.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis in Indonesia: Caring for the poor ‘doesn’t mean being a communist’
Pope Francis’ second day in Indonesia involved two major events: a meeting with political and religious authorities and an encounter with the Catholic bishops, clergy and catechists at the cathedral.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis begins the longest trip of his papacy yet despite age and mobility issues
“Daunting,” “heroic” and even “punishing.” Here’s what to expect during Pope Francis’ Asia-Oceania trip.
Posted inFaith, Interviews
The Vatican’s only Indonesian official expects a warm welcome for Pope Francis—from Catholics and Muslims
In an interview with America, Father Markus Solo spoke about the reasons why Indonesia’s government and its Catholic and Muslim leaders wanted Francis to visit the country, which he described as “young and dynamic.”
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
A brief history of the Catholic Church in Indonesia
How much of Indonesia is Catholic? Is Christianity on the rise? Why is Pope Francis visiting? Here’s what you need to know.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Heat will drive the next wave of migrants. Pope Francis thinks it’s a grave sin to ignore their plight.
Migration has been a defining reality of the human experience; that is not going to change because of 19th-century innovations like national borders.
Posted inFaith, News
East Timor’s sex abuse scandal has been ignored by many Catholics. Can Pope Francis’ visit change that?
The pope’s visit comes only two years after the Vatican acknowledged that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning, East Timorese independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo had sexually abused young boys.
Posted inFaith, Speeches
Pope Francis: Rejecting migrants is a ‘grave sin’
In his General Audience address on Aug. 28 centered on the plight of migrants, Pope Francis said, “The Lord is with our migrants…not with those who repel them.“
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis expresses concern about religious freedom in Ukraine: ‘The churches are not to be touched.’
During the Aug. 25 recitation of the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis expressed his concern over a recent Ukrainian law that proscribed the Russian Orthodox Church.