Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo, the Archbishop of Jakarta addressed the Indonesian Catholic Church over the2022 presidency of the G20 summit which also includes the Religions 20 Summit. In his address, he said that the Church should reach out to the other religions in the country to create what he calls as ‘authentic brotherhood and sisterhood.

The Cardinal said that the invitation is a sign of hope that the country will go on and that it will reject any religion that seeks to impose its will over the state. He added that the success of the event also means that unlike the notions, Indonesia is a country of happy people.

The State of Religions in Indonesia

The Cardinal also talked about the importance of working with the other religions in Indonesia. He added that he shares the sentiment of togetherness with the heads of the Islamic organization and other religious communities.  He also talked about the problems that they’ve faced along the way, specifically when people attempt to use religion for politics.

When it comes to the Indonesian Catholic church, he said that the 37 dioceses all over the country is doing their part when it comes to the process. The Cardinal said that they are focused on showing light and helping out societal issues such as poverty, religious conflict, ecology, and divorce, to name a few.

There’s also the importance of serving the Indonesian people that have over 700 different ethnicities.

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G20 Presidency of Indonesia

On the page of the G20, it calls itself a ‘strategic multilateral platform connecting the world’s major developed and emerging economies.’ It adds that it is made up of leaders who represent more than 80% of the world GDP.

The member countries include Argentina, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, the United States, and the European Union, to name a few. It also has Spain as a permanent guess. It is led by the ‘Troika’ , a rotating presidency that always includes three member countries. Also, there’s no permanent secretariat for the organization.

It all started in 1999 when world leaders formed it to have a place for discussion of international financial stability. This sentiment was important as there was a global financial crisis at the time that affected several middle income countries.

In November of 2008, the world leaders would officially gather for the first G20 Summit. The summit would be fruitful as the leaders coordinated a response for the first financial crisis that it had to deal with.

G20 Discussions

Reuters reported that one of the things discussed was the issue when it comes to Ukraine and Russia with the leaders urged to not join and escalate tension.

French President Emmanuel Macron also asked for the leaders to push Russia for de-escalation and for China to help out as a mediator.

Further, the G20 talked about monetary policy when it comes to the rising interest rates as well as the problems of climate change. The leaders were urged to retain the global temperature to meet the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

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