Pope Francis promotes religious harmony in Indonesia, condemning wars led by violent extremism

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- As he continues to promote religious harmony, Pope Francis visited Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, on Thursday.

Together with the country's Grand Imam and other religious leaders, he signed a joint declaration rejecting violence linked to religious extremism and climate change.

The declaration says it is "worrying" that religion is being used to promote violence around the world, while climate change "has become an obstacle to the harmonious coexistence of peoples."

Francis later said wars and conflicts are caused at times by the "manipulation of religion" and continued to call for greater interfaith dialogue.

Religious harmony has been a key part of the Pope's message on this first leg of his 12-day trip. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority country, with Catholics making up just 3% of its population, and Francis has repeatedly praised the way different cultures and religions are able to peacefully coexist here.

On Thursday Francis also visited the "Tunnel of Friendship" linking Istiqlal to the Catholic Church just across the street -- symbolic, he said, of how different religions can be "connected."

"In the face of today's many challenges, we respond with the sign of fraternity," he said. "Indeed, by welcoming others and respecting their identity, fraternity urges them on a common path travelled in friendship, and leading towards the light."

Earlier in the week, Francis praised the "magnificent mosaic" that makes up Indonesian society and said the Catholic Church desires to increase interfaith dialogue, so as to tackle religious extremism.

Though he did not mention any specific countries, the Pope at a meeting with Indonesia's President Joko Widodo spoke of violent conflicts linked to religious intolerance and the desire to let "one's own partial historical narrative prevail at all costs, even when this leads to endless suffering for entire communities and results in wars and much bloodshed."

"The Catholic Church desires to increase interreligious dialogue," Francis said.

"This is indispensable for meeting common challenges, including that of countering extremism and intolerance, which through the distortion of religion attempt to impose their views by using deception and violence," he said.

The Pope, who is traveling on the longest trip of papacy, landed in Jakarta on Tuesday. He's traveling under the motto "Faith, fraternity, compassion."