The Indonesian Catholic Journalists Association (Paguyuban Wartawan Katolik Indonesia-PWKI) met with Pope Francis on November 16 at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican to work for world peace.
The head of the PWKI delegation, Mayong Suryolaksono, said that the meeting was meant to spread the message of peace that Indonesian law and the Abu Dhabi peace document require.
"PWKI made an official visit to the Vatican to promote world peace, as mandated by the Preamble to the Indonesian Constitution and the Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together," said Suryolaksono.
The Abu Dhabi Peace Document was signed by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed El Sayyeb in Abu Dhabi in February 2019.
At the meeting, the PWKI Delegation presented five special gifts to the Pope.
The special prizes included a painting and statue of Mary, "Our Lady of All Tribes," from the Archbishop of Jakarta, Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo, and the gunungan shadow puppets from Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, Governor of the Yogyakarta Special Region."
Markus Solo, a divine word priest who was there to translate, said that Pope Francis was very happy with the gift that PWKI gave him.
He said that these gifts were extremely unique since they were connected to the figure who delivered them.
Father Solo said that he told Pope Francis what each gift meant physically and philosophically.
"The Pope really admires the artwork and statue of Our Lady of All Tribes that Cardinal Suharyo commissioned," said Solo.
"Oh, che bello!" (Oh, so beautiful!), exclaimed the Pope admiring the statue of Mary, Mother of All Tribes, said the priest.
In 2004, Putut Prabantoro and Pieter Gero, both Jakarta-based journalists, founded the PWKI Association.
The goal of the association is to bring together all Catholics who work in the media for the good of the country and the church, which is a culture with many different beliefs that means building national unity. - Kasmir Nema
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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