MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Singapore (Agenzia Fides) – The presence of Pope Francis in Singapore – scheduled for 11 to 13 September, according to the program of the next announced apostolic trip – will above all be an experience of faith. It will be a moment lived “with the hope of confirming and reinvigorating the faith of the Catholics of Singapore”, explained Cardinal William Goh, Archbishop of Singapore. In a message sent to the community, the Cardinal urged the faithful to gather and pray unceasingly for the Pope’s visit. “We pray, as a community, for the health and safety of the Holy Father; we ask the Lord to grant us a truly significant and grace-filled visit”, he wrote, hoping that the Pope’s presence in Asia will induce “a renewal and strengthening of faith, a conversion of heart and a missionary spirit in the Catholic communities of Singapore ”.Recalled the Cardinal: “It has been 38 years since we had a visit from the Vicar of Christ to Singapore, when Pope Saint John Paul II honored us with a visit on 20 November 1986. I hope that this visit of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, bring renewed fervor to all the Catholics of Singapore, uniting them in faith and mission, especially in these difficult times”. To spiritually prepare the faithful “for the encounter with Jesus through the pastoral visit of Pope Francis”, the Archdiocese of Singapore recently launched the website www.popefrancis2024.sg dedicated to the apostolic journey. The platform offers prayers, updates on the program, insights. The highlight of Pope Francis’ visit is expected to be a Eucharistic celebration probably on September 12, 2024. The website also introduces the theme chosen by the Archdiocese: “Unity, Hope and the Cross”, illustrated in a logo that brings together those key elements of the faith , with colors of yellow (that of the Vatican flag) and red, the color of the Singapore flag. “We pray that Pope Francis’ visit to Singapore unites our hearts and rekindles our faith in Jesus Christ, Good News for the world”, it is stated. The visit takes place ten years after the adoption of the pastoral plan that the Catholic Church established Singapore elaborated in 2014: then, in an assembly of around 750 representatives of parishes and ecclesial entities, Archbishop Goh underlined that the Church would have to face challenges such as the decline of religious practice, indifference towards the sacred, the power of new technologies and the secularization of society. Today, he noted “half of Catholics usually go to church” for Sunday mass, while churches are still full thanks to migrants. Singapore’s Catholic population, currently around 395,000 faithful, includes people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In Singapore, liturgical celebrations are mainly held in English, but there are also liturgies in Mandarin, Tamil and other Southeast Asian languages. In all the churches of Singapore, the special prayer intention that will accompany the journey until September continues to resonate in the Eucharistic celebrations: “For our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and for the universal Church, so that the apostolic visit to Indonesia , Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore may inspire us to bring the joy of the Gospel to all peoples, to renew and strengthen our faith, convert hearts, foster unity and bring hope to humanity”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 3/5/2024)Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
