Pope Francis and a top Indonesian imam have warned against using religion to stoke conflict.
Both the pope and the Grand Imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, Nasaruddin Umar, signed a declaration, calling for interfaith friendship and taking a stand against religious violence.
Unity between faiths has been the central theme of the pontiff’s trip and the declaration called for “religious harmony for the sake of humanity”.
“The global phenomenon of dehumanisation is marked especially by widespread violence and conflict. It is particularly worrying that religion is often instrumentalised in this regard.
“The role of religion should include promoting and safeguarding the dignity of every human life,” it read,
In a speech before leaders of Indonesia’s six recognised religions – Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism – Francis underlined a message of unity, saying “we are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on our way to God, beyond what differentiates us”.
The head of the Catholic Church highlighted the importance of unity to “defeat the culture of violence and indifference”.
The 87-year-old pontiff met Nasaruddin at the mosque, South-East Asia’s largest yesterday, on the third day of his visit to Indonesia.
Nasarudin, 65, said the declaration focused on two messages: “The first one... humanity is only one, there are no colours.
“The second one (message), how to save our environment.”
The two religious leaders also urged unified action to protect the planet, AFP reported.
The declaration also pinpointed the environmental crisis as a threat to human civilisation and called for “decisive action” to counter global warming.
“The human exploitation of creation, our common home, has contributed to climate change,” it read.
It said climate change had led “to various destructive consequences such as natural disasters, global warming and unpredictable weather patterns”.
At the event, Francis and Nasaruddin listened to a passage from the Quran recited by a young blind girl and a passage from the Bible.
The Jakarta Post reported that Francis applauded the Istiqlal Mosque as a symbol of inter-religious harmony as it was designed by a Christian.
“This shows that in this country, a mosque is a place of dialogue to respect each other and live in peace among different religions,” Francis said.
Istiqlal is considered the biggest mosque in South-East Asia and one of the biggest in the world, with a capacity of up to 250,000 people.
The mosque and the Jakarta Cathedral, which are located across the street from each other, have been touted as the symbol of Indonesia’s inter-religious harmony with an underground tunnel connecting the two places of worship in 2020 which is called the Tunnel of Silaturahmi (maintaining kinship).
Francis has made several visits to Muslim-majority countries, including to the United Arab Emirates in 2019 where he signed a document on human brotherhood with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s prestigious seat of learning.
The trip to Indonesia is the third ever by a pope and the first since John Paul II in 1989.
Catholics represent fewer than 3% of the population of Indonesia – about eight million people, compared with the 87%, or 242 million, who are Muslim.
Today, the pope will go to Papua New Guinea before stops in Timor-Leste and Singapore in what will be the longest tour of his papacy.
