VIDEO Pope Francis is Joyfully Greeted by Orphans and Refugees in Indonesia after Arriving for his Long Journey

Pope Francis was joyfully greeted by orphans and refugees just after landing in the Indonesian capital, of Jakarta. He was headed to the Apostolic Nunciature to meet a group of 40 men, women, elderly people and children assisted and accompanied by Dominican nuns, the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Community of Sant'Egidio. The Pontiff greeted those present one by one and listened to the stories of each one, including a family of refugees from Sri Lanka and a Rohingya refugee. It is the only appointment of the first day of the trip today, dedicated to rest.
Pope Francis landed at Soekarno-Hatta airport in the capital Jakarta which is the first stop on his long apostolic journey that, until September 13, will also see him on a pilgrimage to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. The Pope headed to the Apostolic Nunciature, a large building constructed in the 1960s near Merdeka Square, a central area of ​​the city, amidst the many surrounding military structures.

For half an hour the white car carrying the Pope, the only shade of color in a city of gray, was stuck in the traffic, between skyscrapers, apartment blocks and buildings with typical Javanese architecture from the 9th century. There are also many shacks and wooden huts overlooking the Ciliwung River. People hang clothes out to dry, with humidity reaching a peak of 92%.
From the streets, men, women and children in white t-shirts waved flags with the colors of Indonesia as the papal carriage passed by and shouted “Selamat datang,” “welcome.” Crossing the threshold of the Nunciature, led by Nuncio Piero Pioppo, to greet Pope Francis, all seated in a circle in the hall, there they were: orphans, elderly, poor, refugees. There were 40 of them in total, accompanied by those who assist them daily and try to make up for shortcomings and satisfy needs: the Dominican nuns, the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Community of Sant'Egidio.
In particular, the Community, active in the Asian country since 1991 on the initiative of some young lay people from the diocese of Padang and now branched out in eleven cities, accompanied 20 guests to the Nunciature: “A varied population,” explained to Vatican Radio-Vatican News representatives of Sant'Egidio present at the meeting, “poor people who live on the streets who collect garbage and recycle it. They are not the homeless as we see them in Europe, but entire families who do not have a home and live among the garbage.”
In Jakarta they call them in the local language “the cart men”, because on these wooden vehicles they load the garbage collected in the landfills and often the cart itself is the only “home” they have, where they can live, eat and sleep. Sant'Egidio brings them food and clothes as it does in all the cities of the world. Some of these people were able to shake the hand of the Pope today, who went around all the chairs, greeting each one of those present and listening briefly to their story.
Among them, always accompanied by Sant'Egidio and Erlip Vitarsa, the first permanent deacon of the archdiocese of Jakarta, there were also elderly people from the institutes, poor people who live or work in the landfills and frequent the Community soup kitchen, then refugees from Somalia and a family of refugees from Sri Lanka, who fled persecution against the Tamils. They had left months ago on a boat to go to Australia, but the vessel capsized in the sea. Miraculously alive, they returned to Indonesia and, like many others, are waiting to be reunited with relatives in Australia or even Canada. "They live in limbo, in a country that does not reject them but does not have adequate legislation and the means to give them assistance."
Pope Francis listened to their story, reported by James, and blessed them, as he did with a refugee from Myanmar, one of the many Rohingya who suffer the brutality so often stigmatized by the Pope, the only one to give voice to this minority in the public debate. Today the Pontiff placed his hand on the head of the boy, brought to the Nunciature by JRS, as a sign of closeness and attention.
Joy of Children to See the Pope
Hugs and more hugs Pope Francis gave to the many children present: both the orphans gathered in villages and urban outskirts, fed and educated by the Dominican Nuns, and the children of the Schools of Peace (18 in the entire archipelago that gather over 3 thousand children). The children donated the drawing of the "world I would like", the image of the globe held by two arms composed of all the flags, united and close as a sign of brotherhood.
Between kisses, blessings on heads and foreheads, and free rosaries, the Pope spent a good part of this meeting with the little ones, the first and so far only – after the long 13-hour flight from Rome – appointment of the trip to South East Asia and Oceania. Then he stopped to speak privately with a woman from Afghanistan, wrapped in a chador, and joked with an elderly man in a wheelchair: “Me too!”. Finally he gave his blessing, saying he was happy and moved to have started the longest trip of his pontificate with such an appointment.
Source: Vatican News