ITWhy, very far from the ancient Christian lands often conquered by skepticism and indifference, the Pope continues his wanderings in an Asia-Pacific that he travels tirelessly. With this time a twelve-day marathon began in Indonesiawhere eight million Catholics live and pray in the largest Muslim country on the planet, and which continued on Sunday in Papua New Guinea, before a stop in East Timor and another in Singapore.
His fragile health did not prevent François from undertaking this long journey, canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. He thus keeps his promise and once again expresses his hope to see the Asian and Oceanic believers participate fully in the renewal of Christianity. In contact with these young, often fervent people, the Pope raises fundamental topics such as the sharing of wealth, the peaceful coexistence of religions and beliefs, the refusal of violence and attacks on nature.
Since his election in 2013, the Argentine Jesuit has designated the “peripheries” to take the evangelical message there. His visit to the small commune of Papua Vanimo, where we never thought to receive a pope, like the one he did last year to the handful of Christians in Mongolia, illustrates this interest in the limits of the world where the Church must come. confronts ancestral traditions and fulfills its mission with humility for peace and development.
Pope expresses hope to see Asian and Oceanic believers fully participate in renewal of Christianity
However, if Asia and Oceania are at opposite ends, they are no longer the “peripheries” of the world, but rather a new center where the Catholic faith, often a minority with exceptions – think of the Philippines or South Korea – meets a unsuspected spiritual diversity, source of rich human exchanges but also of intolerance and bloody conflicts.
From this angle, the joint statement published by the Pope and the Grand Imam in Jakarta has the same importance as the one in 2019 in Doha between Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. This time it is about the common fight to be waged against dehumanization in modern wars and for the preservation of the environment.
This text, which other religious movements could have signed, can certainly be interpreted as a simple minimum common denominator. But it is one of those essential bridges to bring to life the hope of human solidarity and brotherhood.