Pope, Indonesia imam warn against religion being used to stoke conflicts

Pope Francis has warned against religion being used to stoke conflicts, in a declaration signed with a top Indonesian imam before he holds mass for tens of thousands in Jakarta.

The signing at Istiqlal Mosque on Thursday was one of the final major set pieces of the 87-year-old's three-day visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, that is kicking off a gruelling tour around the Asia-Pacific.

Opening the speech at the mosque, the pontiff underlined that "by looking deeply... we discover that we are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on our way to God, beyond what differentiates us."

Warning against conflicts stoked by the weaponisation of religion, he also pointed to the environmental crisis as an existential threat to human civilisation as he met with leaders from Indonesia's six official religions.

"We take on the responsibility to address the serious... crises that threaten the future of humanity such as wars and conflicts... and the environmental crisis, which is an obstacle to the growth and co-existence of peoples," he said.

The pope was welcomed to the mosque by a percussion band often used in Islamic ceremonies and once seated, he and Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar listened to a passage from the Quran recited by a young blind girl and a passage from the Bible.

The mosque sits across from Jakarta's cathedral, linked by a "tunnel of friendship" as a symbol of religious fraternity.

Francis visited the tunnel before the meeting, delivering blessings and signed a section of the tunnel.

'Humanity is only one'

Nasaruddin said before the meeting that the declaration had focused on two messages.

"The first one... humanity is only one, there are no colours. The second one, how to save our environment," he said.

Francis has made several visits to Muslim-majority countries, and on a 2019 visit to the United Arab Emirates signed a document on human brotherhood with Sheikh Ahmed al Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar Mosque.

The biggest event of his Indonesia leg will be on Thursday afternoon when he will deliver a mass to nearly 80,000 people seated inside Indonesia's main football stadium, with tens of thousands more expected outside.

Many people have travelled from across Indonesia's vast island archipelago for the event.

After Indonesia he will go to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in what will be the longest tour of his papacy.