Pope Francis has left Rome to begin a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific. The 87-year-old leader of the Catholic Church will first visit Indonesia, before stopping in Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
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00:00Pope Francis lands in Indonesia for the first leg of the longest and farthest trip of his pontificate, a 12-day Asia-Pacific tour.
00:10His first stop, the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, with more than 275 million people.
00:23In the capital, Jakarta, police are finalising security preparations.
00:29Here, the 87-year-old leader of the Catholic Church is expected to promote interfaith ties and build religious tolerance.
00:59There are 8 million Catholics in Indonesia, but they represent only 3% of the population.
01:14During his four-day visit here, Pope Francis will celebrate mass for an expected crowd of 80,000 people,
01:21meet the country's outgoing president, Joko Widodo, and visit the country's largest place of worship, the Istiklal Mosque,
01:28where he's expected to tour an underground tunnel of friendship that links the mosque to the country's Catholic cathedral.
01:35The tunnel was built in 2020 as a symbol of religious harmony.
01:40We will make the most of the Pope's visit to talk about the meeting point between religions.
01:49Because we really hope that the meeting point between one religion and another,
01:57one faith and another faith, one ethnic and another ethnic, can be reached.
02:01The Pope will trip here reflects the importance of this region to the Church.
02:05It's one of the places Catholicism is growing significantly.
02:09The Asia-Pacific visit was planned to take place four years ago, but was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
02:16Pope Francis' presence here is widely welcomed by the public.
02:22I'm straight-forward. I'm a religious person.
02:27But I like it.
02:29It means we're together.
02:31We're united.
02:33We respect each other.
02:35That's what I like.
02:37It's okay for me to come to Indonesia. I like it.
02:40For me, it's very important.
02:42Because our religious communities in Indonesia are diverse.
02:49The Pope's next stop will be Papua New Guinea, where he'll meet with missionaries to discuss climate change.
02:55Before going to East Timor, where Pope John Paul II offered a liturgy in 1989.
03:01And finally, Pope Francis will head to Singapore, where he'll focus on improving ties with China.
03:07Before going to East Timor, where Pope John Paul II offered a liturgy in 1989.
03:13And finally, Pope Francis will head to Singapore, where he'll focus on improving ties with China.
03:19A major tour boasting over 40 events, as the leader of the Catholic Church works to reach the faithful and strengthen ties in the Asia-Pacific.
03:29Dolphine Chen and Rosie Greninger for Taiwan Plus.