Pope Francis is set to stress religious harmony on Thursday as he meets leaders from other religions at Southeast Asia's biggest mosque and holds a mass for tens of thousands at a football stadium in Jakarta.

The events are the final major set pieces of the pontiff's three-day visit to Indonesia as he kicks off a grueling tour around the Asia-Pacific.

The pope on Wednesday called for religious unity and warned self-interest was driving global conflicts, laying the foundations for his Thursday morning meeting with leaders from Indonesia's six official religions at the Istiqlal Mosque.

"In order to foster a peaceful and fruitful harmony that ensures peace [...] the Church desires to strengthen interreligious dialogue," he said.

"A harmony in diversity is achieved when [...] each ethnic group and religious denomination acts in a spirit of fraternity."

He will also sign a joint declaration with the mosque's grand imam, touching on environmental protection and "dehumanization" caused by conflicts, according to the Indonesian Bishop’s Conference (KWI). 

The mosque sits across from Jakarta's cathedral, linked by a "tunnel of friendship" as a symbol of religious fraternity.

Interfaith ties have been the central theme of Francis' trip.

He also used his platform to zero in on Wednesday on the role all faiths can play on flashpoint security issues.

Interfaith dialogue is "indispensable to confront common challenges, including that of countering extremism and intolerance," he said.

The biggest event of his Indonesia leg will be on Thursday afternoon when he will deliver a mass to nearly 80,000 people seated inside Indonesia's Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) stadium, with tens of thousands more expected outside.

Many people have traveled from across Indonesia's vast island archipelago for the event.

Catholics represent fewer than three percent of the population of Indonesia, about 8 million people, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.

But they are one of six officially recognized religions or denominations in the nominally secular nation, including Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

Some observers have pointed to growing discrimination against religious minorities in Indonesia, particularly Christians in some regions, and there are calls for the government to take action. 

Amnesty International Indonesia called on the pope to urge Indonesia to respect all minority groups, saying it had recorded 123 cases of intolerance between January 2021 and July 2024.

"The Pope's visit plays a crucial role in encouraging Indonesia to end intolerance and discrimination against all minority groups," said Usman Hamid.

"Religious freedom is a right protected by Indonesia's constitution."

The trip to Indonesia is the third ever by a pope and the first since John Paul II in 1989.