He Pope Francis He left this Friday for Papua New Guinea to continue his tour of Asia-Pacific, the longest trip of his papacy, after finishing a visit to Indonesia where he advocated dialogue with Islam and other religions.
The Pope left the Soekarno-Hatta Airport from Jakarta at 10:30 local time (3:30 GMT) on a plane operated by Indonesian airline Garuda and is scheduled to arrive six hours later in Port Moresby, where he will make the second stop of the tour in a country with hundreds of ethnic groups and languages and a predominantly Christian country.
Francis, 87, who arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday, celebrated a mass on Thursday for nearly 100 people. 60,000 faithful that filled the stadium Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, while another 40,000 followed the ceremony on screens in another adjacent stadium.
“Don’t tire of dreaming and building a civilization of peace“Be builders of hope. Be builders of peace.”
“I feel very lucky compared to other people who can’t come or who wanted to come,” said Vienna Frances Florensius Basol, who came with her husband and a group of about 40 people from Sabah, Malaysia, but were unable to enter the stadium.
Earlier, the Pope, who is in a wheelchair due to mobility problems, held an interfaith event with the Grand Imam of the Istiqlal Mosque, Nasaruddin Umarand signed a declaration urging religions to help resolve conflicts and combat environmental destruction.
Indonesia is the country with the most Muslims of the world and the Catholics They represent only 3.1% of its 270 million inhabitants spread over 6,000 inhabited islands.
In Papua New Guinea, the pontiff will be received at a welcome ceremony on Friday afternoon, but the official agenda will begin on Saturday with meetings with bishops and priests of the country and with children hosted by a secondary school run by the Catholic NGO Caritas.
You will travel to the remote town of Vanimo to meet with some missionaries from his native Argentina who are trying to spread the Catholic faith among a mostly tribal population that also practices pagan and indigenous traditions.
On Sunday, he is scheduled to meet with Papuan Prime Minister, James Marapein Port Moresby and then travel to the remote, small town of Vanimonear the border with Indonesia, where he will hold talks with Catholic missionaries.
Papua New Guinea, the country with the greatest diversity of languages - some 840 – and with 600 tribes, has 95.6% of the population is of Christian faithof which 32% is Catholic.
Among its main problems are the povertydespite being a country rich in natural resources, and violent clashes between tribes.
On Monday, Pope Francis will continue his tour in East Timor and next Wednesday it will continue in Singapore his journey which ends on September 13 after more than 32,000 kilometers traveled, his longest trip.
(With information from EFE and The Associated Press)
