Pope Francise Visit Indonesia

On September 3-6 Pope Francis visited Indonesia. The theme of his visitation was Faith – Fraternity-and compassion. This was the Pope’s visit after 35 years to Indonesia. This moment was very meaningful for all Catholics people in Indonesia.

There were around 85,000 people coming from various provinces in Indonesia to attend mass in Jakarta-Capital City of Indonesia. Apart from meeting with Catholics, the Pope also met with President of Indonesia- Joko Widodo and various religious leaders at the Istiqlal Mosque and signed the “Istiqlal 2024 Joint Declaration: Affirming Religious Harmony for Humanity”. The Pope also advised all Indonesians to live up to the ideology of Pancasila and appreciate diversity as Indonesia’s richness and uniqueness.

The Pope’s presence makes us Indonesians proud and at the same time feel challenged to live authentic simplicity.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to attend Mass at Gelora Bung Karno-Jakarta with Pope Francis as the representative of the Claretian Missionary Sisters.

During the homily, the Pope, in his message namely “Encounter with Jesus”, urged us to live by following two fundamental attitudes, which will enable us to become his disciples. The first attitude is listening to the Word of God and the second is to live this Word.

Seeing Pope Francis in person even though you couldn’t touch him was a very blessed experience. The passion of Laudato Si’ for caring for the Earth and keeping the Pope’s visit areas clean was great. Everyone calls Laudato Si’ as a sign that reminds us not to litter carelessly.