ROME (AP) — Pope Francis will preside over an interfaith meeting in a mosque in the world’s largest predominantly Muslim country during a four-nation Asian visit in September that will be the longest and most complicated foreign trip of his pontificate.
The Vatican on Friday released the itinerary for Francis’ Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. The packed schedule makes clear that the 87-year-old pontiff, who has battled health problems and is increasingly reliant on a wheelchair, has no plans to slow down.
After a day of rest upon arrival in Jakarta on Sept. 3, Francis launches into a typically rigorous round of protocol visits to heads of state and government, speeches to diplomats and meetings with clergy and public Masses.
Francis will be the third pope to visit Indonesia, after Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II in 1989. About 87% of Indonesia’s 277 million people are Muslim, but the country also has Southeast Asia’s second-largest Christian population, after the Philippines, and the third-largest in Asia after the Philippines and China.
In Jakarta, he’ll preside over an interfaith meeting at the capital’s Istiqlal Mosque, expected to be attended by leaders of the six religions in Indonesia that are officially recognized and protected: Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
Francis is also expected to walk through a tunnel, called the “Tunnel of Friendship,” connecting the grand mosque to the neo-Gothic Our Lady of The Assumption Cathedral, which was constructed by Indonesian authorities in 2020.
As a result, the first leg of Francis' four-nation trip is likely to heavily emphasize interreligious harmony and tolerance, a theme he has hammered home on many of his foreign visits, especially to the Gulf and other Muslim majority nations.
Sprinkled in the mix in all four countries are encounters with young people, poor and disabled people, elderly people and Francis’ regular meetings with his Jesuit confreres.
The trip was originally planned for 2020 but was called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. At 11 full days, it's the longest of Francis’ 11-year papacy, outpacing by a few days some of his long trips to the Americas and recalling some of the strenuous, globe-hopping trips of St. John Paul II.
It will bring the Argentine Jesuit to the world’s most populous predominantly Muslim nation, Indonesia, as well as one of the world's newest countries, the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, where the Catholic Church wields enormous influence.
About 98.3% of its 1.34 million population is Catholic, according to the 2022 census, and it’s the Asian country with the highest proportion of Catholics after the Philippines.
Francis will be the second pope to visit East Timor after John Paul in 1989, but the first since the country gained independence from Indonesia in 2002.
In East Timor, however, Francis may also have to reckon with the legacy of independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2020 for having sexually abused young Timorese boys and is currently believed to be living in Portugal.
Francis had to cancel his last planned foreign visit -– a quick trip to Dubai last year to participate in the U.N. climate conference -– because of a recurring case of bronchitis. He has seemed in relatively good form in recent months, including during day trips to Italian cities and visits to Roman parishes.
But in recent years, as his mobility has been limited by bad knee ligaments, he has generally stuck closer to home and kept his foreign trips relatively short.
After he returns to Rome in mid-September, he has a four-day visit to Belgium and Luxembourg before the end of the month, the only other foreign trip that has been confirmed for the year.
Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
FILE - Pope Francis waves Chief of the Huli tribe in Papua New-Guinea, Mundiya Kepanga, as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. The Vatican on Friday, July 5, 2024, released the itinerary for Francis’ Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
Wall Street shifted between tiny gains and losses early Monday as earnings season kicks off amid another busy week for Federal Reserve and its inflation watchers.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were each up less than 0.1% before the bell.
Entertainment giant Paramount Global climbed another 2.1% after it agreed to merge with Skydance. Several companies had been seeking to acquire Paramount, which owns CBS and was behind blockbuster films such as “Top Gun” and “The Godfather." Paramount shares are up about 25% since mid-June.
Boeing ticked up about 1% in early trading Monday after the aerospace giant agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people. The government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the Justice Department said Sunday night.
Coming later this week are quarterly financial results from several major banks as earnings season revs up. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all report Friday. Delta Air Lines and PepsiCo report Thursday.
Also this week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. Powell's comments will be closely watched for hints about the Fed's interest rate policy. The Fed has kept it benchmark borrowing rate at its highest level in more than two decades in an attempt to extinguish the persistent inflation that arose after the U.S. economy rebounded from the brief but sharp pandemic recession.
Powell and other Fed officials will be tuned in to the latest government data on inflation coming on Thursday and Friday. While inflation has slowed in the past two years, it remains above the Fed's 2% target. Most experts are expecting one rate cut from the Fed this year, but not until September. The Fed holds its next policy later this month.
Elsewhere, Asian stocks fell while European markets were higher Monday after France’s elections left its legislature divided among left, center and far right, with no single political faction getting close to a majority.
The CAC-40 index of large companies has erased the losses in early trading and was 0.3% higher.
The markets worst fear, analysts say, was a majority for either the left-wing New Front National or for the anti-immigrant National Rally led by Marine Le Pen. Both parties have made spending promises that raised fears France’s already-large deficit would swell. That has already led to a sell-off in French government bonds.
Though that outcome was avoided, France now faces weeks of uncertainty since there’s no clear majority for any of the main political forces in parliament to support a new government after Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he would resign. That raises the likelihood that any new government will find it difficult to pass legislation and make tough spending choices in order to keep the country’s debts and deficit from getting out of hand.
“That the left has become the strongest group in parliament raises serious concerns,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank. “France is heading for a period of political uncertainty and – most likely – for fiscal problems and some reversal of President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-growth reforms. ”
The euro currency rose to $1.0830.
In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX rose 0.4% and the FTSE 100 in London was up 0.3%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was down 0.3% to 40,780.70 despite official data showing the real wages fell 1.4% year on year in May, a decline for the 26th straight month as the weakening yen and higher commodity costs pushed up the cost of imports. While the nominal wages rose 1.9%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.6% to 17,524.06 and the Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.9% to 2,922.45.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.8% to 7,763.20 while South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.2% lower to 2,857.76.
In other dealings Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gave up 80 cents, down to $82.36 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, declined 67 cents to $85.87 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 160.92 Japanese yen from 160.72 yen.
U.S. stocks rose to more records Friday boosted by a highly anticipated report on the job market.
On Friday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to 5,567.19, setting an all-time high for a third straight day following Thursday’s pause in trading for the Fourth of July holiday. The index has already set 34 records and climbed close to 17% this year, which is only a little more than halfway done.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 39,375.87, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.9% to 18,352.76.
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is seen on July 3, 2024, in New York. Asian stocks have fallen while European markets are higher on Monday, July 8, 2024, after France's elections left its legislature divided among left, center and far right, with no single political faction getting close to a majority. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm under the intense sun Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People are reflected on the window of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm under the intense sun Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm under the intense sun Monday, July 8, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
FILE - A person walks past at an electronic stock board showing financial indexes including Japan's Nikkei 225 index, green, at a securities firm in Tokyo, June 27, 2024. Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday, July 5, after solid gains in Europe overnight, while U.S. markets were closed for the July 4th holiday. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is seen on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in New York. Shares advanced Friday, July 5, 2024, in Europe after Britain's Labour Party prevailed over the Conservatives in this week's national election. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
