Vatican Foreign Minister Cardinal Parolin: The Pope Will Bring Messages Of Peace To Asia And Oceania

Pope Francis arrives in Indonesia. (Twitter/@VaticanNews)

JAKARTA - After a flight of about 13 hours, the ItA-Airways plane carrying Pope Francis landed in Indonesia on Tuesday, when he began his 45th Apostolic Travel outside the country, the longest trip so far in his papal period by visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Singapore.

The flight arrived a few minutes earlier at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, at around 11:19 a.m., after previously taking off from Rome's Fiumicino International Airport at 5:32 p.m. local time Monday afternoon.

The theme of Pope Francis' visit this time was 'Iman, Brotherhood, Love'.

Vatican Foreign Minister Cardinal Pietro Parolin said closeness was a key feature of Pope Francis' papality.

"The first hope in Pope Francis' heart was an encounter: to meet people in the countries he will visit," Cardinal Parolin said when asked about Pope Francis' hopes of this trip.

"In other words, it's about once again expressing the theme of closeness, a concept that closely characterizes its papal style, and whose travel is a significant expression: closeness to listening, proximity to sharing the burden of hardships, suffering, and the hopes of people, and closeness to bring everyone joy, comfort, and hope of the Bible," he continued.

"If expressed in the words of Saint Paul VI, I would say, the geographically further the countries he visited, the more the Holy Father felt this urgency in his heart," he said.

Furthermore, Cardinal Parolin said, Indonesia, which will be the first destination for the Pope's journey this time, is characterized by cultural diversity, denomination and religious traditions. A truly pluralistic reality.

"I particularly think about Indonesia, where, thanks in part to Pancasila, the five principles that are the basis of this country, relations between various groups are basically marked by acceptance of others, mutual respect, dialogue and moderation," he said.

"Against any pressure to turn this situation, against the temptation of radicalism, which unfortunately, is present in all parts of the world, the words and actions of the Holy Father will be a strong and urgent invitation not to leave this path, and it will help maintain and encourage brotherhood, which, as he likes to say, is unity in diversity," he explained.

"This principle must also guide the approach to social and political issues that challenge this great archipelagic country," he continued.

Asked about getting this visit will open another bridge and strengthen relations between the Holy See with Asian countries, Cardinal Parolin said, Singapore, which is mostly a Chinese ethnic population, making it a special place to engage in dialogue with Chinese culture and society in general.

"Indonesia, as mentioned, is the country with the most Muslim population. Visits to Jakarta can provide a good opportunity for further engagement with Islam, in particular, but not limited to, the Islamic component in Asia," he continued.

"Two, which will soon be three, (referring to Timor Leste's membership) of the countries involved in the Papal visit are members of ASEAN, a community that also includes other important countries in the region such as Vietnam and Myanmar," he said.

"The closeness and message of peace that Pope Francis will bring during this journey is also addressed to all of these realities," said Cardinal Parolin.

It is known that before Pope Francis, the two Popes who visited Indonesia were Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II in 1989.

This Apostholic visit to Southeast Asia is a visit that Pope Francis planned before the COVID-19 pandemic.