Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore. Pope Francis is set to make a whirlwind tour of these four Southeast Asian and Oceanian countries in early September. The Apostolic Visit, lasting eleven days from September 2 to 13, will easily be the longest of his pontificate.   Urban differences One notable feature of this journey is the wide range of socio-economic contexts and standards of living that the pope will encounter. Singapore and Jakarta are world-class metropolises with enormous wealth, while Dili, Timor-Leste and Port Morseby, Papua New Guinea are the moderately-sized capital cities of their respective countries. Then there is a “quintessentially Pope Francis” moment in the middle of the itinerary. On September 8, the papal entourage will fly halfway across Papua Island to Vanimo, a peninsula city of about 12,000 people, surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean to the north and a semi-populated wooded and rural expanse on the island. The remote urban centre serves as the See City for the rural diocese that shares its name. “Many parishes still lack basic facilities such as electricity, mobile network coverage, and road access” writes local bishop Francis Meli in a recent L’Osservatore Romano article. “Basic infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and transport is lacking, especially in the remotest inland parishes.” This trip across the country from Port Moresby fits squarely in line with a papacy that for 11 years now has consistently sought to be present to those on the world's margins.   Diversity of Church and Society Perhaps a more significant aspect than the socio-economic and geographic differences involved in this visit is the wide range of religious demographics that the pope will encounter. This means in part that Catholics and the Church in these countries have very contrasting relationships with people and institutions in the rest of their respective societies.   Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, with 87% of its whopping 275 million people adhering to Islam. By contrast, it contains 8 million Catholics comprising 3% of the population. The majority faith surely has enormous influence, but as Jakarta Archbishop Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo explained to Vatican News, the country was founded on the “five pillars of Pancasila” enshrined in the constitution: a generalized monotheistic belief – ideally taken to mean a religious pluralism that encourages public expressions of faith – a “just and civilized humanity,” national unity, consensus through deliberative democracy, and social justice for all. Moreover, Islam came to Indonesia mostly through peaceable trade and cultural exchange, in contrast to its spread throughout Arabia and North Africa largely through violent conquest. This means that Indonesian Islam is less connected to the religion’s Arab socio-political origins, and is therefore less concerned with preserving the Muslim dimension of Arab identity and the Arab dimension of Muslim identity. For this reason, Muslims in Indonesia are perhaps more open to finding common ground with those of other faiths in a pluralistic country bound by a Pancasila. Cardinal Suharyo paints a rosy picture of the relationships between Muslims, Catholics, and Indonesian society as a whole. He told Vatican News that the Catholic minority enjoys a significant degree of freedom to worship and pray: Mass attendance is strong, and many "lay people pray the daily office" thanks to the work of Dominicans in the country. Ultimately, he characterizes the reputation and witness of Catholics in Indonesian society as a people committed to building up the country in which they live:

We see them doing good in various ways, through education, from primary to higher education, health services, social services such as credit unions, and working together with other community members. Said in another way, they 'do good' through the dialogue, if you will, they offer in their work and through their life.

Cardinal Suharyo sees a more recent sign of the acceptance of Catholics in the country: the Great Imam of Istiqlal Mosque, the central place of worship for Indonesian Muslims, was the one to warmly announce Pope Francis’s visit to the country. Notably, this will be the site of an interreligious meeting on September 5.   All this being said, the informal pressure that such a dominant Muslim population can exert in Indonesian society might pose challenges for religious minorities on a local level. Moreover, Catholics in Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor) have painfully known that in the past, Indonesia's approach to non-Muslims was not as benevolent. The small country of 1.3 million shares an island with the Indonesian province of Timor. The former Portuguese colony comprising the eastern half of the island is almost uniformly Catholic at 96%, ahead even of the Philippines' 86%, albeit with a much smaller population. Indonesia occupied the whole island from 1974 to 1999, during which the Catholic population suffered intense political and religious oppression. The Jakarta government finally gave in to international pressure, and after a UN-backed referendum, Timor-Leste was formed as Asia's newest country in 2002.  Since Timor-Leste is composed almost entirely of members of the Catholic Church, its faith, life, and ecclesial structure is deeply interwoven with its national identity. While the constitution of the new country ensures freedom of religion, a Concordat with the Holy See signed in 2015 grants unique freedoms to Catholic clergy and institutions. Specifically, the agreement “grants the Catholic Church autonomy in establishing and running schools, provides tax benefits, safeguards the Church’s historical and cultural heritage, and acknowledges the right of its foreign missionaries to serve in the country.” To underlie this unique relationship between Timor-Leste’s Catholic heritage and its national life, the motto for the portion of Pope Francis’ visit is Que a vossa fé seja a vossa cultura, Portuguese for “May your faith be your culture.” There is a bit of awkwardness to Pope Francis visiting both Indonesia and Timor-Leste within a matter of days. Similar to the way the non-Muslims in Indonesia face certain localized challenges, the Catholic majority in Timor-Leste struggles to attend to the needs and institutional concerns of Muslims, Protestants, and others within its newfound borders. Perhaps the pope, who often preaches acceptance and inclusion of different people, will highlight the positive link between faith and culture express in the visit’s motto as a resource to encourage Timorese Catholics to deepen their commitment to that freedom of religion that they themselves gained through independence in 2002.   Papua New Guinea (PNG) also shares its own (much larger) island with five Indonesian provinces: Papua, Highland Papua, Central Papua, South Papua, West Papua, and Southwest Papua. PNG is more connected to Oceania than to Asia, and happens to be the farthest east and south on the pope’s itinerary. Vanimo may be right on the border with Indonesia, but Port Moresby is much closer to Australia's capital Canberra than it is to Jakarta, and the island's south coast shares a relatively short water crossing to the northern tip of the Australian state of Queensland. PNG’s bishops share an episcopal conference with the neighbouring Solomon Islands; Pope Francis will meet with the bishops of the conference on September 7, along with other clergy, religious, seminarians, and catechists from the region. Like much of Oceania, the religious make-up of Papua New Guinea is predominantly ecumenically Christian. Its 2 million Catholics make up about 32% of the population, while the majority of the country is composed of various Protestant denominations and communities. Prime Minister James Marappe represents the small Seventh-Day Adventist community on the island, while Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae is Lutheran.   Singapore, the shining gem on the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, is the furthest west that Pope Francis will visit on this trip and perhaps the most westernized city. More accurately, it can serve as the great bridge between east and west that Pope Francis hopes to trod. Like Papua New Guinea, Catholics make up about a third of the population. However in this case, the majority of the city's 5.7 million inhabitants are Buddhist. Nevertheless, excitement for the pope’s arrival is exceeding expectations. For example, organizers had to open up 6,000 extra tickets for the September 12 Mass at the National Stadium, bumping up capacity to 48,600 worshippers! This energy is consistent with a solid Catholic minority who are continually hungry to deepen their love of God in the Church. "They want to know more," said Archbishop William Goh to Vatican News of Singapore's Catholics in 2022, just before Pope Francis made him the country's first cardinal. "They want to listen to good homilies. They are searching. They want to grow in faith....For the younger group, they are very much into wanting to discover more of their faith." Pope Francis’s geo-political concerns may take centre stage in this last phase of the visit. Vatican City and Singapore are among the few remaining truly independent city states in the world. They therefore face similar challenges and opportunities given their comparable scale in relation to surrounding countries, which can provide the basis for a unique partnership. 74% of Singaporeans are ethnically Chinese, and 29% speak Mandarin as their first language, one of the country’s official languages. While this entire sojourn to Southeast Asia and Oceania is occurring in China’s neighbourhood, the pope will directly encounter Chinese culture in Singapore. Building on the strong relationship that already exists between these two city states, as well as the profound faith of Singapore's Catholics, this encounter may well give him his strongest opportunity thus far to make further diplomatic inroads with the world’s new superpower to the north.  The last day of his visit includes another interreligious meeting, this time specifically with young people. His address may inspire youth to embrace a culture of encounter themselves amidst different religious views and political ideologies in Singapore, China, and beyond, and call for a renewed, active faith in the present and the future.   Peace, Harmony, Dialogue This call for deepened encounters and active faith may well be Pope Francis’ overall message of this Apostolic Visit, amidst such religious and ethnic diversity and differing relationships that Catholics have with the countries where they live. Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, President of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences, hints that the Holy Father will seek to shore up three hard-won virtues of Asian Catholics:

Three words come to mind: peace and harmony, and that which makes peace and harmony a reality, that is to say dialogue… In Asia we learn to collaborate, dialogue, and respect each other. But most of all, we have learned how to co-exist as brothers and sisters despite the hardships.

Cardinal Bo also hopes that putting these virtues on display in Asia and Oceania will enable local churches to positively impact the Church throughout the world, in all its faithfulness and struggles. He is convinced that such reciprocal listening, longstanding collaboration, and mutual respect can develop new perspectives through a fresh exchange of ideas and experiences. These can in turn bring about creative responses to major global problems such as climate change, poverty, and the disregard for human rights. Turning outward to the world, Cardinal Bo said, “I believe the pathways of peace and harmony through dialogue is what Asia can offer to the Universal Church.” Salt + Light TV will broadcast extensive coverage of this landmark Apostolic Journey. Visit slmedia.org/southeast-asia for our full schedule.