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CV NEWS FEED // Seven people have been arrested for making online violent threats, including bomb threats, against Pope Francis during his visit to Indonesia, according to recent reports.
On September 6, EWTN Vatican correspondent Colm Flynn posted a video on his X account of a report by Channel News Asia (CNA) about the threats and recent subsequent arrests.
Seven people have been arrested, according to hostess Loke Wei Sue of Channel News Asia.
“The suspects are accused of posting statements and images threatening bomb blasts at the Pope’s public meetings” at the Istiqlal Mosque, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, “the presidential palace, and the national football stadium,” Sue reported in the video posted by Flynn.
The Nation Thailand reported a spokesman for Indonesia’s counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88 “told reporters that investigations are still ongoing, and it has not yet been established whether the seven detainees know each other, or are members of the same terror cell.”
Pope Francis arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 3 and his visit concluded on September 6, when he continued on to Papua New Guinea, according to a recent Vatican News report.
In the video, CNA’s Saifulbahri Ismail explained on air from Jakarta that police said they searched one of the suspects’ houses and “found bows and arrows, a drone, and Islamic State leaflets.”
Ismail reported “police explained that the suspects were angry about Pope Francis’ visit to Jakarta’s Istiqlal mosque,” and that the suspects were unhappy with the Indonesian government’s request for television channels to not broadcast the regular Islamic call to prayer during Pope Francis’ Mass at the football stadium.
Ismail said another arrested suspect posted threats online of arson against the church that hosted Pope Francis. Another arrested suspect had “posted a comment on TikTok saying that he was already at the Istana [presidential palace] and will shoot the pope,” Ismail added.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Pope Francis’ current route through Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore marks the longest trip he has taken since becoming pope.
