Yahoo TV

STORY: :: Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

:: Date: September 4, 2024

:: Pope Francis warns against violent extremism

during his visit to Muslim-majority Indonesia

:: Pope Francis

"In order to foster a peaceful and fruitful harmony that ensures peace and unites efforts to remove the imbalances and suffering that still persist in some areas of the country, the Church desires to increase interreligious dialogue. In this way, prejudices can be eliminated and a climate of mutual respect and trust can grow. This is indispensable for meeting common challenges, including that of countering extremism and intolerance, which through the distortion of religion attempt to impose their views by using deception and violence."

In his first speech during an ambitious 12-day journey across Southeast Asia, where Christians are broadly a small minority of the regional population, the pontiff said the Catholic Church would increase its efforts toward inter-religious dialogue in hopes of helping tamp down extremism.

"In this way, prejudices can be eliminated, and a climate of mutual respect and trust can grow," the 87-year-old pope said in an address to some 300 politicians and religious leaders at Jakarta's Merdeka Presidential Palace.

Indonesia has about 280 million people and is estimated to be about 87% Muslim. Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the country's constitution, something the pope referenced in his remarks.

Yet there have been a few incidents of extremist violence in the country in recent years, including suicide bomb attacks in 2021 and 2022 by persons affiliated with the Islamic State-inspired group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

Francis' speech came on his first working day of the trip to Southeast Asia and the Pacific, which will also include stops in Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.