Dr. Sigit Triyono's Testimony as an LAI Representative Meeting Pope Francis

It is not easy to have the opportunity to meet, have a brief dialog, present a Bible and a book, and receive a blessing from the Holy Father Pope Francis or the Pope during his visit to Jakarta September 3-6, 2024. This was also the case for LAI. Indeed, it was only by the goodness and mercy of God, after trying through various channels, that the certainty of being able to meet came in the last days, just two days before he left Indonesia.

Since the end of 2023 when there was definite news that the Pope was coming to Indonesia, LAI had been informally inquiring with several partners from the Catholic church in Jakarta, about the possibility of LAI participating in welcoming him. In May 2024 LAI was encouraged to ask some priests who were on the welcoming committee for the Pope's arrival. From the results of contacting the committee, LAI was asked to write an official letter to the Chairman of the welcoming committee, Mr. Ignatius Jonan. After the letter was written and sent, through verbal answers from committee members, it was conveyed that all events were handled by the state palace because he was a state guest. This meant that LAI was not included in the list.

LAI did not give up hope and tried to contact several other authorities within the Jakarta Catholic church, but to no avail. Finally, in the week leading up to the Vatican's arrival in Jakarta, LAI received an offer of help to contact the Vatican directly from Dr. Alexander M. Schweitzer, Executive Director of Global Ministry, and the Global Mission Team of the United Bible Societies, of which LAI is a member. Dr. Alexander did not promise that this effort would be successful, given the short time frame."

On August 27, 2024 LAI sent a formal email request to Dr. Alexander for help in making it possible for LAI to welcome and meet the Pope in Jakarta. On the morning of September 3, 2024, again with the help of Dr. Alexander, LAI received a positive response from the Vatican that one person from LAI would be given the opportunity to meet the Pope on Friday morning, September 6, 2024 at 8:15 a.m. and was asked to send a passport photo immediately.

That same morning while sending a passport photo, I asked for an additional person to be together with the Pope. An hour later LAI received an answer to immediately send one more passport photo and to mention the position at LAI. It was with great joy and gratitude that on Thursday, September 4, 2024 afternoon LAI received assurance that the General Chairperson and General Secretary of LAI were given the opportunity to meet the Pope at the Embassy of the Holy See in Jakarta on Friday, September 6, 2024 at 08.15 WIB. Before he leaves for the airport to continue his visit to Papua New Guniea.

For LAI, this encounter is very important to strengthen the symbol of the ecumenical movement in Indonesia. We both brought a pulpit-size Deuterocanonical Bible with a red cover and an Indonesian-language Identity:Identified book. These two offerings are a joint work between LAI and the Catholic church in Indonesia and the Indonesian Biblical Institute (LBI).

On Friday, September 6, 2024 morning after going through security procedures, queuing in front of the Embassy Building of the Holy See of the Vatican, then moving to queue in the lobby of the Embassy Building, finally at exactly 9.45 WIB the awaited moment arrived. After the Pope passed and shook hands with about 10 people in front of our queue, we finally met the Pope directly.

With a slight bow, Rev. Dr. Henreitte T.H. Lebang (Chairman of LAI) presented the Deuterocanonical Bible which is the world's first ecumenical Bible. The translation is a joint work of the Protestant and Catholic churches in the spirit of ecumenism. This Scripture is proof that togetherness among churches in Indonesia is very real with the use of the same Scripture translation. The Pope seemed attentive to listen to the brief explanation of Mrs. Ketum LAI, while stroking the Deuterocanonical Scriptures.

I then joyfully continued with the presentation of the book Identity:Identified, the English version of which the Pope had received in February 2023 at the Vatican. This book is a New Testament book with 25 articles that address the struggles of young people. The book, which is adapted from the English version and accompanied by videos, websites and apps, aims to reach out to young Catholics in Indonesia. The Pope received the book while looking at some of the pages to mark his attention. He seemed pleased and expressed his gratitude.

My task was not yet complete, because the day before the meeting with the Pope I was given by my Catholic daughter-in-law a photo with her husband, who is my first son. On the back of the postcard-sized photo was a request to bless them both so that their wait for a child could be realized soon. I delivered it directly to the Pope, who looked at the photo, read the inscription on the back, and signed, then turned the photo over again and gave the blessing with the sign of the cross.

I was deeply moved by all of this. After he gave the photo back to my hand, I immediately held and kissed his right hand while saying a big thank you. As a sign of my gratitude, respect and honor, kissing the hand of a figure blessed by God, and highly respected by millions and even billions of people in this world is a very rare opportunity.

After the events of September 6, several colleagues asked me how I felt about meeting the Holy Father Pope Francis in person.

They compared it to the fact that people who can only see the Pope on TV or from a distance are happy and grateful. Those who were able to attend the grand mass at the Senayan Main Stadium in Jakarta felt very happy and more grateful. There are also people who received the touch of the hand and the gift of the rosary from the Pope, feeling very happy and very grateful.

For me personally, who by the grace of God, had the opportunity to meet the Pope face to face, have a brief dialog, receive a blessing, and kiss his hand, the feelings of emotion, joy and gratitude are very difficult to express in words. If possible, I would really like to repeat the encounter with the Pope for a longer duration of time.

The physical encounter between the President and General Secretary of LAI and Pope Francis is certainly a symbol of the stronger synergistic partnership between churches in Indonesia in the procession of the ecumenical movement. Whatever the church, the spirit of service is based on the same Bible. This also opens up more opportunities to expand concrete cooperation between churches in Indonesia, especially services related to the Bible. That the good news may spread to the ends of the earth, thanks be to God. (ST.10.9.2024).