Argentina Pope Francis lands in Indonesia

Pope Francis has landed in Indonesia at the start of his longest trip abroad to date. The head of the Catholic Church arrived in Jakarta, the capital of the Southeast Asian country, after a flight of more than 13 hours on a special plane operated by Italian airline Ita.

With more than 240 million Muslims, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. Only around eight million of the country's inhabitants are Catholics. Other stops on the twelve-day trip include Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. There are around 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

In Jakarta, a meeting with the outgoing President Joko Widodo and a visit to the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in South East Asia, are also on the agenda for the 87-year-old head of the Church. A joint declaration is also to be signed with Muslim representatives. A large service in a football stadium with tens of thousands of believers is also planned.

Pope to fly more than 30,000 kilometers

The trip will focus in particular on peaceful coexistence between the different religions. Only in East Timor, the third stop, is the majority of the population of Catholic faith. In consideration of Francis' age and state of health, who is now often in a wheelchair, there are always longer breaks.

The pontiff's last major trip abroad was a year ago. At that time, he visited Mongolia. All in all, the Pope, who has been in office for eleven years, will cover more than 30,000 kilometers by plane on his 45th trip abroad. He is scheduled to return to Rome on September 13.

The next foreign trip on the agenda is a visit to Luxembourg and Belgium later this month. Catholic faithful from Germany are also expected there.