Christians in Indonesia have increasingly become the target of terrorist attacks, with the latest plots being aimed at a Catholic archbishop and several churches in the Papua region.
Extremist groups, one after the other, are trying to send a message, particularly among Muslim communities, by attacking Christians. Last month the Islamic State-linked Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) terror group plotted to kill Archbishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi, whom Pope Francis recently appointed to lead Merauke Archdiocese in Papua and who is scheduled to receive the pallium from the pope on June 22.
In a message sent early this month to Indonesian Bishops’ Conference chairman Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo of Jakarta, Archbishop Mandagi said a man came to his chancery twice pretending to be a visitor some time in January and on May 30 to die with him in a suicide attack.