By Emma Bubola

JAKARTA — Pope Francis on Wednesday (4) praised Indonesia’s founding principles of unity in diversity in his first public address in the country but also stressed vigilance against intolerance and extremism.

Francis met with President Joko Widodo on Wednesday morning in Jakarta, the capital, a day after he landed in the country after a 13-hour-long flight from Rome. The pope, in his customary white robes, and Widodo, who was wearing a traditional Islamic hat, stood in the footsteps of the country’s Dutch colonial-era presidential palace as Indonesian honour guards paraded and a marching band played hymns.

Indonesia is the first stop on Francis’ 11-day tour of Asia-Pacific, a gruelling physical test for the 87-year-old pope who has made reaching out to Asia a priority of his pontificate.

Francis, the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula, has also pushed interfaith harmony as one of his key missions. He plans to do so again in Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest population of Muslims.

In a speech at the presidential palace, Francis compared Indonesia’s religious, ethnic and cultural mix to its biodiversity. Tolerance and mutual respect, he said, helped bring the country together “just as the ocean is the natural element uniting all Indonesian islands.”

He added that unity was a “wise and delicate balance” that “must be continuously defended” and “in a special way by those in political life” in the face of “imbalances and suffering that still persist in some areas.”

While Indonesia is overwhelmingly Muslim, it is also home to millions of people who follow other faiths, including Catholicism. It has been a vibrant example of interreligious harmony, but in recent years those in religious minorities have faced discrimination amid the rise of conservative strains of Islam.

“For Indonesia, differences are a gift,” Widodo, also known as Jokowi, who is set to step down in October after a decade in office, said in his speech. “And tolerance is a fertilizer for peace and unity of a nation.”

But some Indonesian Catholics said they are persecuted because of their faith. This, they added, was driven by others’ belief that they wanted to convert Muslims.

“I hope that the pope shows that Catholics are not fanatics,” said Desri Yohanna, 24, as she left Sunday Mass at the Santa Clara Catholic Church on the outskirts of Jakarta.

On Wednesday, Francis addressed those fears, saying the Catholic Church wished to “increase interreligious dialogue” and cooperation with other faiths but to “never proselytize.”

Widodo, who has urged the United States to “do more” to stop the war in the Gaza Strip, made reference to the conflict in the Middle East, adding that his country “greatly appreciated the Vatican’s attitude to continue to voice a call for peace in Palestine.”

Francis did not specifically refer to the conflict, but he said that intolerance has driven violence around the world, in contrast with Indonesia’s founding principle of unity.

The pope had a lively attitude throughout the day, repeatedly speaking off the cuff and eliciting laughter among the crowd. He praised Indonesia’s young families while criticizing countries where “some prefer to only have a cat or a little dog,” instead of a child.

In the afternoon, Francis met with bishops, seminarians and other religious figures in the city’s Catholic cathedral, the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption.

“Listen attentively,” he warned his translator every time he went off script while addressing the enthusiastic crowd that had gathered under the church’s gothic vaults as he cautioned about the devil, which, he said, “can come in through your pockets”.

As he wrapped up, he asked the crowd to pray for him, as he often does, and added, jokingly: “please, pray in my favour, not against me”.

-New York Times