Pope Francis and Indonesia imam call for unity against religious violence

Religious leaders meet at Istiqlal Mosque and sign declaration calling for ‘religious harmony 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 against religious violence and urging unified action to protect the planet.

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

Nasaruddin, 65, said that the declaration focused on two messages: “The first one … humanity is only one, there are no colours. The second one, how to save our environment.”

The two religious leaders sign a declaration calling for ‘religious harmony for the sake of humanity’ at Southeast Asia’s biggest mosque, in Jakarta [Tiziana Fabi/AFP]

Opening his speech at the mosque, Francis emphasised the commonality of religions, stating that “by looking deeply … we discover that we are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on our way to God, beyond what differentiates us”.

He warned against the weaponisation of religion to stoke conflicts and also raised the environmental crisis as an existential threat to human civilisation.

“We take on the responsibility to address the serious … crises that threaten the future of humanity such as wars and conflicts,” he said, adding that the environmental crisis was “an obstacle to the growth and co-existence of peoples”.

The pope was welcomed to the mosque by a percussion band often used in Islamic ceremonies and once seated, he and Nasaruddin listened to a passage from the Quran recited by a young blind girl and a passage from the Bible.

Istiqlal Mosque sits across from Jakarta’s cathedral, linked by a “tunnel of friendship” as a symbol of religious fraternity. Francis visited the tunnel before the meeting, delivering blessings and signed a section of the tunnel.

The tunnel is held up in Indonesia as potent symbol of religious freedom, which is enshrined in the country’s constitution, but has been challenged by repeated instances of discrimination and violence against religious minorities.

From January 2021 to July 2024, there were at least 123 cases of intolerance, including rejection, closure or destruction of places of worship and physical attacks, Amnesty International noted on the eve of Francis’s visit.

Later on Thursday, Francis will deliver mass to nearly 80,000 people in Indonesia’s main football stadium, with tens of thousands more expected outside.

Many people have travelled from across Indonesia’s vast island archipelago for the event. Catholicism is one of six officially recognised religions or denominations in Indonesia, including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

Pope Francis, right, kisses the right hand of the Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque Nasaruddin Umar, after a meeting with religious leaders in Jakarta [Aditya Aji/Pool via AP Photo]

They represent fewer than 3 percent of the population of the country – about eight million people – compared with the 87 percent – or 242 million – who are Muslim.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies