Pope Ends Asia-Pacific Tour Which Saw Him Deliver Masses, Medical Supplies

Pope Francis is ending his tour of the Asia-Pacific, which covered 32,000 kilometres (20,000 miles) and saw him visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore over the past 12 days.
Although confined to a wheelchair for much of the time, the 87-year-old was determined to complete a schedule of over 40 events, which Vatican insiders attributed to his desire to show that he was still up to the job of leading the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
With church membership declining in the West, Asia is assuming increased strategic importance in preserving and growing the faith.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, and most Islamic organisations and leaders responded warmly to the Pope’s presence, which included a visit to the Istiqlal Mosque.
While there, the Pontiff met with grand imam Nasaruddin Umar and representatives from Indonesia’s six officially recognised religions—Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism, emphasising one of the key themes of his tour, interfaith dialogue.
But while his call for tolerance was widely endorsed, beneath the surface there are still Muslim groups in Indonesia—some small, but a few significant—for whom things are far from friendly.
For instance, the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI, Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body), said the visit would set the momentum for people of different faiths to strengthen their commitment to building peace in the world.
But as recently as 2005, it issued a fatwa (religious edict) declaring secularism, pluralism, and liberalism “deviant” and has yet to withdraw it.
There, he met with the local Catholic community and missionaries from his native Argentina who have been ministering to them, and delivered toys and medical supplies.
Despite the difficulty of travelling to the small village, which has a population of 11,000, an estimated 20,000 Catholics and onlookers turned up to hear him preach.
In a clear reference to the tribal violence over land and other disputes that have long seen people injured and killed, he told villagers to be good to one another.
Doing so, he said, would help to “drive out fear, superstition, and magic from people’s hearts, to put an end to destructive behaviours such as violence, infidelity, exploitation, alcohol, and drug abuse—evils which imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters.”
Also known as Timor Leste, it is one of the world’s youngest countries and has deep ties to the Catholic Church, which was influential in its often violent fight for independence from Indonesia. Located between northwestern Australia and Indonesia, the country occupies half of the island of Timor.
Sept. 12 is the Pope’s second and last day in Singapore. He has been formally welcomed to Parliament, met with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, and called on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Later, he will celebrate mass at the National Stadium, which is expected to be attended by 50,000 people.
According to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, there are about 395,000 Catholics in Singapore.