Pope Francis met with a group of refugees, orphans and homeless people at the Apostolic Nunciature in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, on Tuesday (3).
The gathering included Rohingya refugees from the Jesuit Refugee Service, orphaned children raised by Dominican nuns, and elderly people and homeless people from the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic association in Indonesia.
The 87-year-old pontiff landed at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport on Tuesday aboard a chartered aircraft operated by ITA Airways.
The flight, which left Rome, lasted 13 hours, and was described by Francis as “the longest” he has ever taken.
The pope’s arrival in Jakarta marks his first visit to Indonesia and the first leg of the longest trip of his papacy.
He is due to address Indonesia’s political leaders on Wednesday (4), which will be his first official event.
He is expected to attend an interfaith meeting at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, which has an unusual feature: a tunnel connecting it to the city’s Catholic cathedral.
The meeting is part of an effort to promote “interfaith harmony” during his 12-day Asia-Pacific trip.
Indonesia, home to approximately 280 million people, is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, with Catholics comprising only about 3% of the population.
This content was originally published in Pope meets homeless people, orphans and refugees on first day in Indonesia on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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