Muslims free to convert in part of Indonesia

October 20, 2011

On the overwhelmingly Catholic island of Flores--an island of 1.8 million that forms part of Indonesia--Muslims are free to convert, according to a bishop who ministers there.

“In Flores, the cradle of Christianity in Indonesia, in the diocese of Ruteng, there is, every year, a small group of Muslims, five or six people, who convert to Christianity and are baptized,” says Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Ruteng. “But this does not raise a scandal nor any backlash.”

“Flores is impervious to forms of fundamentalism that run across Indonesia,” added Bishop Ruteng, whose diocese has experience a vocation surge: between 1990 and 2004, the number of diocesan priests rose from 32 to 110, while the number of women religious rose from 73 to 215.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• In Flores there is "freedom of conversion from Islam to Christianity", notes the Bishop of Ruteng (Fides)
• Flores (Wikipeida)