Pope Francis today called on the political leaders of Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country, to be vigilant about religious extremism, which he said is distorting people's beliefs through "deceit and violence" , reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
The Holy Father made his appeal in his first speech during his 12-day tour of Southeast Asia, where Christians are a small minority.
The Pope said that the Catholic Church will make additional efforts for dialogue between different religions in order to fight extremism.
"In this way, prejudices can be eliminated and a climate of mutual respect and trust can be created," the 87-year-old Pope told about 300 politicians and religious leaders gathered at the presidential palace "Merdeka" in Jakarta.
"This is vital for dealing with common challenges, including fighting extremism and intolerance, which, through the distortion of religion, try to impose their views using deception and violence,'' Pope Francis said.
Indonesia has a population of about 280 million people, 87% of whom are Muslim.
In recent years there have been manifestations of extremism in Indonesia. Among them are the attacks by suicide bombers in 2021 and 2022. The attack in 2021 took place just before Easter and injured at least 19 people.