WelCom October 2024
Pope Francis was received with open arms wherever he went on his recent Apostolic Journey to Southeast Asia and Oceania. It was his longest and most challenging trip ever, taking the 87-year-old pontiff 32,000 kilometres by air to four countries from 2 to 13 September.
He visited the country with the world’s largest Muslim population – Indonesia, with about 242 million – and the country with the highest percentage of Catholics outside the Vatican itself – East Timor, with some 98 per cent.
He visited two of the world’s poorest countries – Papua New Guinea and East Timor – and one of its richest – Singapore.
Reflecting on the trip back in Rome, the Pope said he was struck by how alive the Church was in Asia and Oceania, describing it as ‘missionary and outgoing’. He said he would love to have worked there as a young Jesuit.
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Francis to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore: 2–13 September 2024
Church still too Eurocentric, says Pope
The Catholic Church is ‘more alive’ outside of Europe, Pope Francis said as he reflected on his recent apostolic journey to Southeast Asia and Oceania.
‘A first reflection that comes spontaneously after this trip is that in thinking about the Church we are still too Eurocentric, or, as they say, “Western”,’ the Pope said in St Peter’s Square.
‘But in reality, the Church is much bigger, much bigger than Rome and Europe…and may I say much more alive in these countries,’ he added.
In his first general audience after his trip, the Pope expressed gratitude to God for his experiences in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.
‘I thank the Lord who allowed me to do as an elderly Pope what I would have liked to do as a young Jesuit,’ Pope Francis said.
The Pope, who turns 88 in December, expressed his enthusiasm for the ‘missionary, outgoing Church’ he encountered on his visit to the four island nations in Asia and Oceania.
Pope Francis underlined to the crowd that an ‘apostolic journey’ is much different from tourism because ‘it is a journey to bring the Word of God, to make the Lord known, and also to know the soul of the people.’
Source: CNA
Urgent need for ‘religious harmony’
‘Be builders of hope,’ Pope Francis told the over 100,000 Indonesian faithful at his final Mass in Jakarta’s main stadium, as his three-day visit to Indonesia came to an end.
‘Guided by the word of the Lord,’ he said, ‘I encourage you to sow seeds of love, confidently tread the path of dialogue, continue to show your goodness and kindness…and be builders of unity and peace.’
His appeal to foster fraternity in a divided and shattered world resonated loudly in this pluralistic and diverse nation of many islands, languages, and creeds.
It’s an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, proud of its tradition of tolerance and cohabitation, a nation that sought and found a friend and an ally in Pope Francis.
Earlier in the day the Pope signed a joint declaration with the Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, in which together they called for religious harmony for the sake of humanity and of creation.
The urgent need to foster and nurture Human Fraternity, the main leitmotif of the entire visit, permeated that ceremony in more ways than one when Pope Francis and the Imam stepped into the famous ‘Tunnel of Friendship’ that connects the Catholic Cathedral and the Mosque, both physically and symbolically.
‘We all have a role to play in helping everyone pass through the tunnels of life with our eyes turned toward the light,’ he said.
Perhaps the most luminous light of the day shone during his visit to a group of disabled persons waiting to welcome him at the nearby offices of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference. The Pope slowly wheeled his wheelchair up and down the aisles, stopping to greet every single boy, girl, man and woman with a touch, a hug, an exchange of closeness and compassion.
The Holy Father was farewelled at Jakarta’s International Airport by Indonesia’s Minister for Religious Affairs and representatives of the civil and religious society, including the Cardinal Archbishop of Jakarta, Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo.
Pope travels to remote jungles of Papua New Guinea
In the remote coastal town of Vanimo on the northwest edge of Papua New Guinea, Catholics often wait weeks or months for a priest to visit.
Except on Sunday, 8 September, when Pope Francis, carried by an Australian Air Force plane, landed on the edge of the jungle to go where no Pope has ever visited to convey a heartfelt message to its nascent Catholic community: ‘You are doing something beautiful, and it is important that you are not left alone.’
Catholicism first arrived here in Papua New Guinea in the middle of the 19th century but only reached this pocket of the country some 50 years ago. With a population of just over 11,000, some Catholics reported walking for several days to reach the meeting with the Pope.
Pope Francis spoke candidly about the hardships faced by the people there and the efforts by the country’s Catholics to ‘put an end to destructive behaviours such as violence, infidelity, exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse, evils which imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters.’
‘Let us remember that love is stronger than all this and its beauty can heal the world, because it has its roots in God,’ he told the crowd of an estimated 20,000 locals.
Throughout his three-day visit here, the Pope acknowledged the difficulties the country faced, but repeatedly praised the country’s diversity – home to over 600 tribes and more than 800 languages – and appealed to their shared Christian roots to encourage them to work together for the common good.
Pope’s Mass attracts nearly half the population of Timor-Leste
Some 600,000 Catholics in Timor-Leste, almost half the population of the country, attended the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on Tuesday 10 September, at a park in Tasitolu, the coastal plain five miles outside Dili, the capital city. It was the crowning point of his two-day sojourn in the most Catholic country in Asia that drew enthusiastic crowds.
Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at this site in 1989 but for a much smaller crowd and surrounded by military forces, as the country was then under Indonesian occupation.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, came to what was the first independent state founded in the 21st century. In his homily, Pope Francis told the people, ‘We are called to open ourselves to the Father’s love’ and ‘to let ourselves be fashioned by him, so that he may heal our wounds, reconcile our differences and reorder our lives to create a new foundation for every aspect of our personal and communal life.’
The crowd listened to the homily in near-total silence. At the end of Mass, however, the crowd roared when Francis went off script, saying: ‘I have been thinking: What is the best thing that Timor has? Is it sandalwood? Is it fishing? No, this is not the best. The best is its people! I cannot forget the people on the side of the roads with children. How many children this nation has! The best thing this people has is the smile of its children. A people that teaches its children to smile is a people with a future.’
The Pope’s visit to Timor-Leste included an address to representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps during which he hailed the ‘assiduous efforts’ they are making at reconciliation with their ‘brothers and sisters in Indonesia’ and praised their fidelity to the Catholic faith throughout the long years of struggle for freedom.
All religions are paths to God
At an inter-religious dialogue with young people in Singapore, Pope Francis said that all religions are paths to reach God.
‘They are – to make a comparison – like different languages, different dialects, to get there. But God is God for everyone. God is God for all, and if God is God for all then we are all sons and daughters of God.’
Some 600 participants from more than 50 schools and interfaith and religious organisations attended the event. The Pope urged the young people of various faiths to commit themselves to unity and hope.
The Holy Father was greeted with testimonies of a young Hindu, Sikh, and Catholic. He encouraged their personal faith journeys, but appealed for them to walk together and toward the common good.
During his visit to Singapore the Pope commented on the city-state’s transformation from its ‘humble origins’ and commended its ‘unwavering commitment to carry out projects and initiatives’ that have helped it develop. He also thanked Singapore for its commitment to environmental sustainability.
However, the Pope also warned against the risk of placing ‘pragmatism or merit above all things,’ which, he said, may inadvertently lead to the exclusion of the marginalised. In this regard, he stressed the importance of remembering the poor and the elderly, and of protecting the dignity of migrant workers. ‘These migrants contribute a great deal to society and should be guaranteed a fair wage,’ he said.