Pope Francis this week completes nearly two weeks of travel across the Asia Pacific region, a journey across four countries in the world's most populated region. And as the pope so often does, he left both believers and nonbelievers with much to ponder.

In Indonesia, the appearance of the head of the Roman Catholic Church with the imam of Southeast Asia's largest mosque reminded the world that, yes, people of different religions can respect one another. Francis and Imam Nasaruddin Umar jointly called for interfaith friendship at a gathering last week featuring representatives of the six officially recognized religions in Indonesia: Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Catholicism and Protestantism.

This was a clarion call in a world where religion is used to fuel conflict, both in warfare with accompanying loss of life as well as in toxic cultural battles. As Francis reminded us, "We are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on our way to God, beyond what differentiates us."

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