Pope meets the homeless, orphans and refugees on first day in Indonesia

Pope Francis met with a group of refugees, orphans, and the homeless at the Apostolic Nunciature in Jakarta after he landed in the Indonesian capital on Tuesday (September 3). The gathering included Rohingya refugees with the Jesuit Refugee Service, orphaned children raised by Dominican nuns, the elderly, and homeless persons with the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic association in Indonesia. The 87-year-old pontiff landed at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport on Tuesday aboard an ITA Airways chartered aircraft after a 13-hour overnight flight from Rome, which the pontiff described as “the longest” flight he has ever taken. The pope’s arrival in Jakarta marks his first visit to Indonesia and the first leg of the longest trip of his papacy. Pope Francis is scheduled to address Indonesia's political leaders on Wednesday (September 4), which will be his first official event. He is expected to participate in an inter-religious meeting at Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque that has an unusual feature — a tunnel connecting it to the city's Catholic cathedral — as part of a push for interfaith harmony during his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour. Indonesia, home to approximately 280 million people, is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, with Catholics comprising only about 3% of the population. -Report from Reuters