Pope calls for Christian-Muslim dialogue in Jakarta

Pope Francis could hardly have found a more appropriate place for his message of friendship between religions. In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, the Istiqlal Mosque – with space for 250,000 believers, the largest Muslim place of worship in Southeast Asia – and the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary face each other, separated only by a busy road. However, a “friendship tunnel” now runs under the road from one site to the other. “It is a telling sign through which these two great places of worship not only ‘face’ each other, but are also ‘connected’ to each other,” the Pope said on Thursday during a visit to the mosque, two days after his arrival in Indonesia.