JAKARTA: Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said that Pope Francis will visit Indonesia on September 3 2024.
The Minister of Religion said the government had received an official notification letter from the Holy See Vatican regarding the Pope’s planned visit.
Apart from Indonesia, Pope Francis is also scheduled to visit Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste.
This visit will be the first in 35 years that a Vatican leader has come to Indonesia after Pope John Paul II on 8-12 October 1989.
At that time Pope John Paul II visited several cities starting from Jakarta, Medan, Jogjakarta, Maumere in Flores, to Dili, which at that time was still part of the province of East Timor.
Minister of Religion Yaqut continued President Joko Widodo’s long-awaited visit to Pope Francis.
“In June 2022, I personally sent an invitation letter from President Jokowi to Pope Francis,” said Minister of Religion Yaqut, who is familiarly called Gus Men, in a ministry press release, Sunday (31 March).
Minister of Religion Yaqut hopes that Pope Francis can witness for himself the diversity and brotherhood between religious communities that is growing in Indonesia.
The health of Pope Francis, who is currently 87 years old, has recently been in the spotlight.
The Pope has repeatedly limited his speeches in public and was most recently forced to cancel attending the Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday at the Roman Colosseum.
Despite this, the Pope attended other Holy Week events leading up to Easter, and showed good spirits on Easter Sunday.
The Argentine pope has made 44 trips abroad since being elected leader of the Vatican Holy See in 2013.
