Pope Francis' Apostological Visit Proves Indonesia Is A Highly Tolerated Country

The supreme leader of the Catholic Church Pope Francis arrived at Soekarno Hatta International Airport, Banten, Tuesday (3/9/2024). (ANTARA/HO-Kemenag)

Pope Francis' visit to Indonesia is history. Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said Pope Francis' visit was a symbol of friendship and dialogue between religious communities in Indonesia.

Indonesia became the first country visited by Pope Francis in a series of autolic trips to Asia Pacific throughout September 2024. Apart from Indonesia, this leader of Catholics will also visit Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and Singapore. Pope Francis is scheduled to be in Indonesia from 3 to 6 September 2024.

Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil interprets Pope Frasiskus' visit to Indonesia as an opportunity to increase tolerance among religious believers.

"Now that the Pope is present, we must interpret it as a difference that must be appreciated by all mankind," Yaqut said, quoted by Antara.

"We are destined to live a diverse life, our humanitarian destiny is a destiny of differences, nothing is the same. This means that it shows that we are destined to be different, but the message of differences is how to ensure that all are united," he said.

The Pope's visit to a country is always awaited by Catholics in the country, including Indonesia. Indonesian Catholics have waited 35 years for the Pope's visit.

In Indonesian history, this is the third time the Holy Father of Catholics has visited. The first was Pope Paul VI who visited December 3-4, 1970. During this visit, Pope Paul VI met directly with President Suharto. However, at that time the meeting took place briefly because it was not an official state visit.

The second is Pope John Paul II who visited Indonesia on October 8-12 1989. At that time the Pope not only visited Jakarta, but also other areas, namely Yogyakarta, Maumere, and Medan.

During this apolyc visit, Pope Francis will travel for 11 days to the Asia Pacific region from 3 to 13 September 2024. This is also the longest visit of the 87-year-old Holy Father since 11 years of his leadership.

Apolitolic visits are a term for the Pope's official visit as a spiritual promoter of Catholics to various Catholic Church communities spread around the world.

The word apotholic comes from the Greek word apotolos, which means'sent' or 'decision'. In the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), apotholics have the meaning of relating to or based on the teachings of the priests.

While reported by the Cambridge Dictionary, the postological word is related to the Prophets. Quoted from the Vatican Embassy, the analytic journey that Pope Francis is now taking is taken from the fact that the Pope is the successor to the Petrus.

The Prophet Petrus is believed to be the first leader of the Catholic Church. As a leader of the Catholic Church around the world, the Pope's visit to Indonesia was part of his pastoral visit to Catholic communities in various parts of the world.

Based on the initial plan, Pope Francis was supposed to visit Indonesia in 2020, after he became the first Vatican leader to set foot on the Arab Peninsula in 2019. But the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted the plan.

The fact that Indonesia is now the first country that Pope Francis visited in his 43rd trip abroad is fairly interesting. Of the four countries visited on this 11-day trip, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste have a majority of Christians and Catholics, while Singaporeans are mostly Buddhists.

Indonesia itself is a country of 279 million people, with the majority being Muslim. According to data from the Ministry of Religion in 2023 there are 29.2 million Christians in Indonesia or only 10.48 percent of the population. The details are 7.42 percent or 20,722,154 Protestants and 3.06 percent or 8,542,248 Catholics.

The Executive Board of the Indonesian Muslim Student Union (PB SEMMI) said that the visit of the Supreme Leader of the World Catholic Church was a momentum to show the world that Indonesia has high tolerance.

"The Pope's visit to Indonesia, of course, as a diverse nation and adhering to the Pancasila ideology, must accept it well. We must show an impression to the world that Indonesia is the largest pluralistic country in the world and has the highest level of tolerance in the world," said PB SEMMI Chairman Bintang Wahyu Saputra.

In addition to meeting President Joko Widodo at the State Palace, Pope Francis' agenda in Indonesia is to participate in interfaith dialogue at the Istiqlal Mosque and finally, what Catholics have been waiting for the most, he will lead the grand mass at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Around 80 thousand people are predicted to attend the grand mass.

Professor of Catholic studies from Case Western University, Jonathan Tan, said Indonesia was an important part of Pope Francis' efforts to break tensions between Islam and Christianity.

"I think it's been because for a long time, there has been tensions, misunderstandings throughout history. I think the Pope wants to pave the way for a new, un defensive relationship," said Jonathan.

Pope Francis' interest in building good relations with Muslim countries has been seen from the previous Vatican agenda, namely visiting the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Indonesia was chosen in this academic series of trips not only because of its status as the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, but also because of the uniqueness of the situation, as Pancasila principles. This, according to Jonathan Tan, distinguishes Muslims in Indonesia from Muslims in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East.

"There [Central East], the presence and leadership of Islam is very strong and dominant. In Indonesia, (Islam and Christianity) live side by side in harmony," he said.

However, it is undeniable that disputes between religious believers still often occur in Indonesia. The Advocacy Coalition for Religious Freedom or Belief noted that religious freedom and belief in Indonesia in 2023 will not experience major changes.

Throughout 2023, the SETARA Institute recorded 217 events with 329 acts of freedom of belief (KBB) in Indonesia. This figure increased significantly compared to 2022, which was 175 events with 333 actions.

SETARA Institute also explained the trend of KKB violations, namely disturbances in places of worship, the use of blasphemy offenses, and rejection of lectures. Specifically for cases of disturbances in places of worship, it continues to increase significantly.

SETARA Institute recorded 65 cases of disturbances in places of worship during the past year. This figure continues to increase compared to previous years, namely 50 places of worship (2022) 44 places of worship (2021), 24 places of worship (2020), 31 places of worship (2019), 20 places of worship (2018) and 16 places of worship (2017).

The Archbishop of Jakarta, Ignatius Suharyo, did not deny that freedom of religion is one of the problems in Indonesia, but he views it as still within reasonable limits.

"I feel that there is a problem, but compared to the overall complexity of the Indonesian nation, it is relatively normal. There is no country without problems, including in terms of religion," said Suharyo.