Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis, 87, embarked Monday on an ambitious four-nation tour that begins with Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, for a visit dominated by inter-faith ties.

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.

Covering some 32,000 kilometres (almost 20,000 miles), the tour – the longest and farthest of his 11 years leading the worldwide Catholic Church – will test Francis’ increasingly fragile health.

But in recent weeks the pontiff has appeared in good spirits, and he is often energised by being among his flock.

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 recognised religions or denominations in the secular nation, also including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

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 “dehumanisation”, 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 travelling 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.

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