Pope Francis Goes to Southeast Asia!

[Music] here in IND Indonesia there are 29 million Christians now that sounds impressive until you compare it to the number of Muslims 242 million my name is colum Flynn and I'm here in Jakarta where Pope Francis will start his visit to South East Asia meeting Muslim leaders here to strengthen the relationship between the two religions [Music] then he will fly 7,000 miles here to the city of Port Moresby in Papa New Guinea to see firsthand the work the church is doing to help those on the [Music] margins next up one of the youngest countries in

the world East Tour where the pope will meet the president to hear how their country is forging A New Path and finally Pope Francis will land here in Singapore where he will celebrate Mass with up to 50,000 people well to try and get a better understanding of why the pope is visiting these countries we've decided to travel to all four this is Pope Francis in Southeast [Music] Asia when Pope Francis announced he was embarking on this journey the longest trip of his papacy many were shocked at 87 years of age using a wheelchair and with

recent Health scares for the Holy Father this will be a great challenge it's also a challenge for the hosting countries the last time Indonesia welcomed a pope was John Paul II in 1989 in the Indonesian Capital Jakarta at Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral I'm meeting father Thomas ismoyo this area around 400 chair every uh weekend MK and in terms of number we only uh 3% out of total population but in terms of our contribution to the society and the to the Catholic worldwide I think we have we play significant role living across 177,000 Islands

Indonesia has a population of 275 million of which only around 3% are Catholic but we don't feel inferior with the numbers quality is more important than [Music] quantity the predominant religion is Islam and right across from the cathedral stands one of the largest mosques in the world istal and while there are some reports of Christians being discriminated against in more rural parts of Indonesia and the worsome church attacks years ago for the most part there is peace between the religions in general we live peacefully with our brothers and sisters and we are grateful for that

how have you obtained generally speaking that harmonious relationship between Christians and Muslims here in Indonesia where in other parts of the world or in Africa parts of Europe now they haven't been able to do that because our founding fathers uh who declare the independence of Indonesia also maintain the unity even though we are diverse in in terms of language tribes and also uh uh Rel religions it was sucaro the first president of Indonesia who insisted that the national mosque be built right across from the cathedral and not on the other side of the city as

others were pushing for Indonesian Cardinal ignasia sario but the president the first president insisted the national mosque should be built the face to face to the cathedral that was meant to be very symbolical as the ideal of the Indonesian harmonious life the Cardinal told me that the Islam here in Indonesia is different to some of the Islam coming out of for example the Middle East which he says is due to the religions mixing here in society some expert call it cultural Muslim uh they there's a immersion with the culture of Indonesia when Pope Francis arrives

here at the Cathedral he will then visit the mosque across the street but rather than crossing the road he will use a newly government constructed tunnel called the tunnel of Tolerance which links the grounds of the cathedral and the grounds of the mosque inside the ISTA mosque which holds 250,000 people Pope Francis will meet the grand Imam nasarudin Umar I think this is the only one tolerance tunnel in the world what does the tunnel symbolize we are from the the some grandfather Abraham we worship for the the same God humanity is only one the country

may have been able to achieve religious Harmony but prosperity for so many of its people it has not and as night falls over the capital The Ordinary People of Jakarta struggle to make a living this talk about the challenge of poverty even just 10 minutes from where we're sitting here in the cathedral next to the hotel that we're staying in the crew and I went for a walk last night down some side streets I couldn't believe the conditions of the homes I saw people living in in the small narrow markets people sleeping outside of their

shops we don't call it poor but there's a specific term in indes what do you call prra is before uh reaching a Prosperity but it's a reality I'm sure they themselves would say we are poor I would say that uh if you call it poverty as a part of the challenges I will say that Indonesia is not a poor country but there's a big gap between the rich and the poor although these poor neighborhoods are just a few minutes from the cathedral there was no planned meeting between Pope Fran and the poor on this trip

or a tour of these neighborhoods but the Catholic Church does speak openly about government corruption in Indonesia which leads to the poorest suffering the most I always feel very sorry to to find that the people there our brother the same Indonesian they they have to live such way of living very poor very poor Indonesia is very what we what what people say religious countries people are very religious everybody has religion yes but we have to put a question mark having religion and being religious the corruption is so huge human trafficking is becoming more widespread yes

that is true we have religion but we are not very sure if we really a religious person yeah how can someone claim to be religious when they are corrupting the public precisely and is that a a big problem here the problem of for example corruption a big problem here big big problem if there is no corrup corruption Indonesia would be would have become uh prosperous country they regret it now Y njo is a Catholic an author a university professor and also worked as Deputy Chief of Staff for the president of Indonesia as I would say

the bearer of the moral voice Catholic church has been very very influential yes it's interesting when we were talking to the Cardinal here he made a strong point in the interview that in a country where everyone claims to be religious officially officially yes but you have on the other hand such widespread corruption what do you put that down to some econ IST even says or even said in the past that corruption was like you know the lubricants for the government Machinery to work even for the economy to work you know because corruption always takes to

to Tango right there's no corruption if there's no bribery yes you want to do bribery because you just want to get things fast but also you do it because the public service is not there so you know you need to to work on that and actually this is part of uh when I felt I was called to to join and to jump into the public service if you are 100% Catholic you also 100% patriotic last minute preparations are underway to welcome the Holy Father and for the Catholic Community here this is a very exciting moment

the coming of Pope is a really you know uh for for me very amazing she's 87 right 87 years old and she will come and he will come to Indonesia and to see us and you know the present of Pop uh physically for us is uh you know really something for us after Indonesia Pope Francis will fly East to the country of Papa New [Music] guini Papa new guini gained its independence from Australia in 1975 and today has a population of around 9 million the country has mountains dense rainforests and Rich biodiversity and here in

the sprawling Capital port morby in one of the city's busiest markets I'm meeting father Lawrence iro kiraj a priest from India who has been here for 25 years so this is the middle of the market where uh uh you see people lot of people around so this is the evening time and people are buying and selling and uh usually it's like a finishing of the day what's the Catholic Community like here in Papa Nini um when you ask Papa Nini it's like I would say most mostly like a village it's not like individual life it's

a communitarian lifestyle in PNG they're very strong they have very strong faith because uh they very committed so you know I am from India from comparing to India it's more here very strong very strong very strong in faith father Lawrence explains that in a country where you have for example 800 languages trying to bring about unity in Christianity is a difficult thing because we have um Christian U but we have different denominations in the future there is a problem that will be they will be divided among the um denomination so it's divisions among the denominations

in the Christian church okay Cardinal John Rabat is the Archbishop of port morby and the most senior Catholic in the country the last uh smile from the Sun to us yeah the last little kiss from the Sun that's right kiss as the sun gives us his last smile of the day we sit down to talk about some of the challenges for the church here your remnance you grew up here in Papa New Guinea yes what are your memories of growing up as a Catholic in the country oh you I was seeing my parents going to

the priest visiting the priest and and you know you see a community coming together so you remember the sense of community yeah yeah that's okay papini Community here their Community addicted addicted addicted meaning to say we all live in community no individual no individualism no Papa New Guinea is community addicted and indeed while here we hear from many people the importance of community for the locals but the problem is much like the multiple denominations among Christians the people's communities exist within various tribes and Clans which can cause Division and in some cases vicious violence back

in the Villages there are this still this are some some cultures that are very strong and especially with uh bayback system we say payback system but this is an ey for an i to for a to really that kind of thing yes it's this kind of tribal cultures and traditions yeah yeah yeah because they remember what happened in the past so in the modern time that is still stays with them and they cannot just easily forget even just one month ago here in the highlands an estimated 40 people were Massacre others raped and homes burnt

down in a rural tribal dispute in the remote Papa New Guinea even those bits of the jigsaw puzzle that we're able to put together from a great distance are horrifying uh there are some places still that is very very vicious and very strong really yeah and that is up in the highlands and what would happen in those tribal areas in the north you see one of the dioses that was uh very kind of uh and good people and so on and it was kind of we thought that things were okay and so on but now

we are hearing of some you know really killing and so on like that that is uh one of our dases I don't know why they do it it's a it's really hard to understand for me it's I'm heing yes but it's hard for me to understand why and and uh you know it's about the same time at the same time close to that the SVD machineries were there the machineries came they did good works and uh so on but uh how this is coming up again I don't know what what is really because I think

the values that we the machineries came and brought uh I'm not sure if uh the young ones are skipping to it while here pop Francis is scheduled to visit a local Ministry that cares for Street children that is children who can't afford to attend school and so roam the streets every day the sisters offer them a free education yeah we are teaching them because they are unfortunate children they cannot go to the normal school so instead of them living with the parents in the villages in the settlements areas we go and look for them we

tell them to bring them here and we try our best to teach them like AB c d how to spell their name how to write how to read okay to come andite the sisters go out to the streets to find them and then bring them here and as well as teaching them to read and write they also teach them about hygiene morals the faith and give them fresh healthy food we are preparing for our meal for our students every day Monday to Thursday we are giving food after the class A simple thing that many of

us take for granted a basic fundamental education is something these children have never known before and so the priests nuns and brothers have to start with the very Basics can you read the sentence that you WR already just trying your best to help us read and write 4 3 one the sisters here say what gives them the most Joy is seeing the children leave the scho school after their studies now with a better chance in life to have a brighter future it's giving me more joy seeing them growing each day in their life so they

feel also that they are spal and they feel that they have a place and they are loved by somebody as the children in the school wait with excitement for the pope we are going west next the pop will fly to the small young nation of teor Lee this country only gained its full Independence in 2002 after centuries of Portuguese colonization and a bloody occupation by [Music] Indonesia the country is 97% Catholic and in the capital Dilly Pope Francis will meet with the country's president and Nobel Peace Prize winner president Jose Ramos Hort from El Salvador

with the police escort the president is driving us to his residence where he has agreed to an interview ahead of the Pope's visit and he tells me his country is not the first but the second most Catholic nation in the world because I'm told by the Vatican that the Vatican City is the most Catholic in the world I have a I have some doubts but because because it's Vatican telling you so I accept so can tell you so you accept we are number two only because they are telling me that [Music] on a more serious

note president R Hort witnessed firsthand the terror that was inflicted on this country during the Indonesian occupation of 1975 to 1999 his own siblings were murdered and he was exiled from the country even after the occupation ended and when he returned there was an assassination attempt made on his life I didn't want any more to lose their life and throughout all of this he saw the role the Catholic Church played in the development of the new independent tore e what role did the Catholic Church play in the development of the nation the Catholic church has

been here since 1515 uh when the first missionar hungry starving thirsty land on our Shores and for many many years the church was the only institution that provided education and then provide shelter for poor people and then increasingly over as the country evolve uh particular during the struggle for Independence well if it were not the for the church Sheltering people saving lives speaking out I don't know whether we would be free today really [Music] yes Cardinal vilo DOA de Silva is teor Le's first Cardinal and he too remembers that dark time in recent history during

that moment only the church became the voice of the voiceless the suffering there were depressed as a people all of us we feel that uh wound that has been [Music] caused by Indonesian to almost all families the people of East teore how do you think they have been able to forgive and make peace with their history and with their neighbor Indonesia yes I think uh this is one thing which we as Tories we are proud of it I think this is an option an option a choice the country has in a Way Chosen not to

forget but to forgive and move on and now for the strong Catholic country and its people the visitor Pope Francis is seen as a reaffirming moment he will be the first pope to VIs them since gaining independence the viset of the Pope will be kind of confirmation to confirm the the identity as a young country in this uh geographical this part of the world and the church is still working today to help those in teor Lee where 40% of the people are below the poverty line and sometimes when a child is born with a disability

or special need they are abandoned and one of the places Pope Francis will visit while he's here here is the irmas Alma School a home for children with special needs who have been rejected by their families some of the children have autism some Down syndrome and others just mild physical disabilities but what they all have in common now is that they are part of this family sister Anastasia Moody works here at the center we're living together with the kids kids come from every District in Timor Lee and then yeah we're living together with us like

a family because of how Society in teor leste views those with disabilities these children have in a way been cast aside sister gudus B is the Mother Superior why do they end up here what what are the circumstances that they come from some of them have families who cannot care for them but most have been abandoned some come to us straight from the hospital and others from social welfare I'm walking around the building you'll see that there's a lot of [Music] laughter you're always you're always laughing why are you always laughing because life is good

life is good yeah as the day nears its end the sisters and children gather outside to pray and sing when you start to serve them just look into their eyes because those eyes is are belong to Christ and one little girl in particular who is blind says that it is the sisters who are her sunshine you make me when skies are gray you never know the how much I love you please don't than my S I know wow thank you wow finally the Argentinian Pope will depart Dilly East teamour and fly around 1500 mil West

to the island of Singapore known for its rapid development diverse culture and being a Global Financial Hub Singapore with its modern skyscrappers will be the most affluent stop on the Pope's trip a far cry from the poverty that exists in the previous three countries often referred to as the lion City Singapore has a population of over 5 million and is predominantly Buddhist the Catholic faith accounts for around 7% of the population [Music] in the middle of the city is St Francis savior Seminary shaping the future Priests of the [Music] country [Music] Glory father valan Chong

is the director of the Seminary go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor how many seminarians do you have here at the moment currently we've got 22 seminarians for the arch dasis of Singapore are those numbers good are they healthy for Singapore it is good but it's not replacement level because we have a number of priests who are retired who passed on the 20 will not replace we can't really so although the numbers are are good they're not at that level you need yeah to replace the priests who were leaving

at least in this current context yeah father Valyrian tells me that as Singapore's economy and prosperity Rises the time people devote to their spiritual life is decreasing and sometimes even disappearing there's a growing number which is almost more than a fifth is actually those who profess no religion what do you put that down to that growth in atheism I would reckon I think it's also affluence materialism it is a place where you can get what you want you know that kind of thing and it's materially people have gotten distracted I would say it's a big

challenge for the church then isn't it extremely extremely challenging and it's um you know we tell our seminarians and the come priest we got to take note of these things it's not so much of of just uh working and in servicing the people but it's more about [Music] [Music] like the one here at Divine Mercy Catholic Church in the congregation this morning is Gerald Lee with his wife and young child passionate about his faith now it wasn't always that way and he remembers too getting caught up in Singapore's booming Financial world I spent the early

years of my career working in management consulting and I think during those years I I did find myself becoming like the people who were around me you know very driven type A gravitating towards certain certain skills and certain um values in life and what type of values were they I think prioritizing the career uh at all cost to a fault that secular worldview kind of makes it very difficult for somebody to acknowledge uh to be conscious of the presence of the Divine the need for the Divine Gerald Lee hopes that this visitor Pope Francis and

the the high publicity around it will trigger more young singaporeans to reexamine their values what do you think this upcoming visitor Pope Francis will do for the church in Singapore and for Catholics across the country I think pop it's important for for the pope uh to remind uh Society at large that there are more important things just from my interactions anecdotally with my friends uh in my circles I think there actually is a sincere desire to search for more in life I think that people are seeking I think it's now the owners the owners is

on the church to to go out and to to find these people and to minister the love of Christ to them in a way that they can receive in a fast-paced young booming economy sometimes there are those who feel left behind or forgotten about Studies have shown that there are high levels of loneliness in those over the age of 60 in Singapore and for more than 40 years St Joseph's home has been caring for the elderly and the dying the community was founded and is run by the kosian sisters our Founders wanted us to serve

the poor poor in different way you know for us here is to serve the poor when they are not well yeah that's how uh uh our motive is to serve the poor when whatever we are doing yeah here the residents are treated as people and not patients the stuff are very nice they treat me very well and it's the first home for the elderly in Singapore that has opened at play school as well so the young and old can interact and show care and love towards each other and today the elderly are showing the kids

how to make a tasty salad so delicious it's so delicious we could see life in the old old people you know they are more lively and they feel that the the children are like grandchildren that's beautiful sister isn't it yeah and when the elderly do not have the strength to raise their hands well they get a little help okay and then we're going to move our hands go TOS all the best thank you and in another part of the city is the hearts at work program this is an initiative run by Catholic Welfare Services which

hires and pays those who because of their disabilities might find it hard to get employment elsewhere and in fact here the word disability doesn't even exist everyone is able to do something and that is recognized and celebrated we want to give them a sense of nity they are also son and daughter of God okay we want to uh give them as much as uh care and a concern and I want to treat them like one of our brothers and sister in Christ so we don't label them as those others but whether we call them traines

or even we call them our friends our special friends isn't that beautiful yes definely which one you like better I love to work here because I like all my friends here see our friends here you get to see your friends yeah do you like working here yes once I join in here I feel like very happy as you've seen the Catholic church in these four countries covers a caleidoscope of realities from stunning Beauty to incredible poverty from booming Nations to developing countries the ethnic mix the diversity of religions but this visit by Pope Francis will

be a chance to remind the people here of the universality of the Catholic church and Rome's closeness to them and for Pope Francis at 87 years of age this trip will certainly not be easy until next time for me colum Flynn here in Southeast Asia thank you so much for watching [Music]