Argentina Pope Francis promotes dialog in Indonesia

During a visit to Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim country - Pope Francis has called for closer dialog between religions. "In this way, prejudices can be broken down and a climate of mutual respect and trust can be created, which is indispensable for overcoming common challenges," said the head of the Catholic Church at a meeting with President Joko Widodo in the capital Jakarta.

Indonesia is the first stop on Francis' longest trip abroad to date. More than 240 million Muslims live in the Southeast Asian state - more than in any other country. Only around 8 million of the population are Catholics. Other stops on the twelve-day trip include the two island states of Papua-Guinea and East Timor as well as Singapore. The 87-year-old pontiff is the head of around 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

Together against extremism and intolerance

At the meeting in the presidential palace, Francis named the common goal of Christianity and Islam as the fight against "extremism and intolerance, which try to assert themselves with the help of deception and violence by distorting religion". Indonesia stands for moderate Islam. However, there have been repeated attacks by radical Islamist groups in the vast country of more than 17,000 islands in the past.

On another topic, the Pope appealed to other societies to take Indonesia as an example. "In Indonesia, they have families with four or five children. That is a good thing. Keep it up," said Francis, deviating from the prepared speech text. Elsewhere, however, people would rather have a small dog or a cat.

With more than 283 million inhabitants, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. It is followed by India, China and the USA.

Meeting with the Muslim community

After the meeting at the presidential palace, a visit to the Cathedral of the Assumption, which was built during the Dutch colonial era, was on the agenda. On Thursday, Francis will be a guest at the Istiqlal Mosque opposite, which has space for 125,000 worshippers. The two buildings are connected by a tunnel. On Friday, he will travel on to Papua New Guinea.