Indonesia to host two major Catholic youth events

(Vatican Radio) Indonesia is preparing to host two major Catholic youth events during 2016-2017. The first event is Indonesian Youth Day, which takes place from 1 - 6 October, 2016, in Manado.  The next year, Indonesia will host Asian Youth Day from 30 July – 6 August, 2017, in Yogyakarta.

“We hope by having those two big events, we would like to expose that … Catholics are part of the Indonesian people,” said Antonius Agus Sriyono, Indonesia’s Ambassador to the Holy See. “They have to have tolerance to other religions.”

Listen to the interview with Antonius Agus Sriyono, Indonesia’s Ambassador to the Holy See:

Indonesia is nearly 90% Muslim, but Christians make up almost 10% of the population, or over 25 million people.

Manado, the host-city of Indonesian Youth Day, is in the predominantly-Christian North Sulawesi province.  Yogyakarta is on the island of Java, which is home to the majority of the population in Indonesia.

Indonesia’s government said it wants the two events to build up solidarity in the country.

“We want Indonesian young Catholics to be aware of the importance of, for instance, unity and nationalism in Indonesia,” the Ambassador told Vatican Radio.