A simple meeting between the Pope and an Indonesian Muslim woman has become an ecumenical symbol of border-erasing friendship.

A handshake with the Pope

A 23-year-old Indonesian student, Dewi Praswida, was visiting the Vatican as part of an interfaith dialogue fellowship there when she met Pope Francis first-hand in St. Peter’s Square on June 26, The Jakarta Post reported.

It was during the Pope's regular rounds on June 26 when Dewi got a chance to shake his hand and speak with him.

Dewi introduced herself as a Muslim from Indonesia.

Dewi told the Indonesian national newspaper Kompas that she was the only one to shake his hand as part of the papal audience, and had introduced herself to him, asking for the Pope to pray for her and world peace.

A photo featuring the handshake was uploaded on to her Facebook:

"My headscarf and your robe isn't a reason for us to not be friends," she said in the post's caption.

"BTW, what's his skincare routine? His hands are so smooth!"

Belief in religious harmony

An Instagram post by an Indonesian politician and researcher Fadjroel Rachman of the same handshake event has received close to 12,000 Likes in six days.

View this post on Instagram

☝🏻"Jilbabku dan jubahmu bukanlah sekat untuk tidak bersaudara" - Dewi Praswida, Penerima Beasiswa Nostra Aetate. Foto ini mendadak viral. Perjumpaan sederhana yang tak biasa. Sebab tak seperti foto antar umat Katolik dan pemimpinnya, foto ini jadi terlihat istimewa. Foto seorang muslimah dari negeri dengan mayoritas berpenduduk muslim dan pemimpin milyaran umat Katolik dunia. Penegasan Dewi soal identitasnya adalah wujud penegasan akan harmoni kehidupan antar umat beragama meski secara iman berbeda. Dewi yang merupakan aktivis Gusdurian dari Jawa Tengah membawa wajah rahmat semesta alam pada Bapa Suci dan begitu sebaliknya ia mendapatkan senyum kasih untuk uluran tangan persaudaraannya. Betapa indah ..💝💝💝

A post shared by Fadjroel Rachman (@fadjroelrachman) on Jun 28, 2019 at 7:26pm PDT

The meeting was praised as being "extraordinary".

The Instagram caption said:

This photo has gone very viral.

A simple meeting that is extraordinary. Its not a photo of a Catholic and their leader. It's a photo of a Muslim woman from a Muslim majority country and the leader of millions of Catholics all over the world.

Dewi believes that people regardless of religion can live harmoniously. Dewi is a Gusdurian activist from Central Java who brings a face of universal mercy to Pope Francis and in return, she received a sincere smile for extending her hand (towards friendship).

This was actually the second time Dewi got to meet the Pope, the first being in 2018 during a youth pre-synod meeting in the Vatican.

In a separate post, Dewi thanked everyone for their enthusiasm with regards to her meeting with the Pope, and hopes the photo helps to spread the message that differences in religion should not stop anyone from being friends.

Thank you for all your enthusiasm towards the photo of my meeting with Pope Francis, I hope that the virality of the photo has helped to spread the message that the difference in religions shouldn't deter us from being friends.

This photo is different from the other one because, in this photo, I'm with a friend of mine who has lived here for long. I have learnt a lot from him and he made me realise that we can be friends even though we're in different colours. Every skin tone is beautiful!

Top image via Dewi Praswida's Facebook post