MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Monday, September 2, 2024
Countries of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to Asia and Oceania (2-13 September)
by Victor Gaetan*Rome (Agenzia Fides) – The ambitious pilgrimage of Pope Francis in 4 countries, from 2 to 13 September, will be punctuated with countless and varied meetings: the young countries will welcome the Pontiff and he, in turn, will seek to inspire people and leaders in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. The Pope’s diplomatic priorities, and also the effects achieved, will be highlighted throughout the trip, starting from his commitment to interreligious dialogue, a leitmotif of this pontificate. One way to see this mission in its scope is to look at it and consider it through the four principles for social coexistence that Pope Francis outlined in Evangelii Gaudium (paragraphs 217-237), given that the reality of each of the four countries touched by the trip recalls one of the four principles: unity prevails over conflict, the whole is superior to the part, time is superior to space, and reality is superior to ideas. In the same Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (238-258), Pope Francis lists three areas of dialogue crucial to pursuing the common good: dialogue with States, with society and with non-Catholics. His itinerary is a kaleidoscope of these priorities. Indonesia: Unity and conflict In an interview with Agenzia Fides (see Fides 23/8/2024), Indonesian Cardinal Ignazio Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo explained that religious harmony is an objective associated with the very independence of the country from Netherlands, reached in 1945. “Our relations with the Islamic community are really good. And this harmonious relationship also dates back and has been maintained since the origin of the nation”, said Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo. It is a way to enhance social unity over division. For example, Indonesia’s first leader, President Sukarno, encouraged the construction of a mosque in Jakarta on the site of a Dutch castle, to symbolize the overcoming of colonialism and in front of the 1900 Catholic cathedral, to express the friendship between two religious traditions. An underground tunnel connecting the two structures was recently added. Pope Francis will visit both the cathedral and the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, for an interreligious meeting, expressing his “appreciation towards the Indonesian people, especially in the sense of freedom of religion and interreligious coexistence and harmony between communities of faith.”, explained Cardinal Suharyo. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, the population includes approximately 242 million Muslims and 29 million Christians, of which 8.5 million are Catholics, a growing figure. Pope Francis continues to build ever-stronger relations with Sunni Islam, a diplomatic priority he has pursued since 2013, when he inherited a fractured relationship with much of Islam. As Pope Francis wrote in Evangelii gaudium, “diversity is beautiful when it agrees to constantly enter into a process of reconciliation” (§ 230). Papua New Guinea: the whole and the partOf the 10 million people who live in Papua New Guinea, more than 95% are Christians. Most of them belong to various Protestant denominations, while the Catholic Church is considered the largest faith community, with around 30% of the nation’s believers. However, Christianity has variously combined with local indigenous practices, giving rise to a culturally pluriform Church. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) are the religious order that began the presence of the Church in 1881. Cardinal John Ribat is an MSC priest and is the nation’s first Cardinal, created in 2016 by Pope Francis. The leaders of the local Church are extremely attentive to environmental issues and, after the publication of Laudato Si’, they have given particular priority to the protection of the environment, opposing the exploitation of the mining sector and the deforestation carried out by economic companies. This conservation activity is an excellent example of recognizing that the whole is superior to its individual parts. In Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope uses an analogy with nature to describe this principle: “We must always broaden our gaze to recognize a greater good that will bring benefits to all of us. But it must be done without evasion, without uprooting. It is necessary to sink one’s roots into the fertile land and history of one’s place, which is a gift from God” (§ 235). East Timor: Time and spaceIt is well known that East Timor, after achieving independence in 2002, today represents the nation with the highest percentage of Catholics in the world. A Portuguese colony until 1975, it was then controlled by Indonesia until 1999. Various studies show that during the Indonesian military occupation over 170 thousand people died due to arbitrary executions, disappearances and famine. When Pope John Paul II visited in 1989 (while East Timor was still occupied by Indonesia), the seeds of national identity were planted, but the Church always opposed violence. By protecting persecuted citizens and caring for the community, faith has grown, step by step. In 1975, around 20% of the population was Catholic, a figure that rose to 95% in 1998. And this was also because the Church was close to national aspirations. The process by which East Timor achieved independence represents an excellent application of the principle expounded by Pope Francis that time is superior to space. The Holy Spirit can enter the space created in time; time allows trust to grow and solutions to mature in the field. As Francis Pspa writes in Evangelii Gaudium, “This principle allows us to work in the long term, without the obsession of immediate results. It helps to patiently endure difficult and adverse situations, or the changes in plans that the dynamism of reality imposes.”. The Pope’s visit to the first new country of the 21st century, where the nation’s first cardinal, Virgílio do Carmo da Silva, SDB, created by Pope Francis in 2022, is Archbishop of Dili, will certainly be a joyous visit. Singapore: Reality and ideasEconomic prosperity and global integration make Singapore the most developed nation that the Pope will visit. His message on the environment is once again relevant, as is his call to regulate artificial intelligence [3] Francis will join another Archbishop he created Cardinal (the first in Singapore’s history) in 2022, Cardinal William Goh Seng Chye, who sits on Singapore’s Presidential Council for Religious Harmony and works closely with the community Buddhist, the largest religious community in the country. Pope Francis admires the explicit commitment of the Singapore authorities to guaranteeing religious freedom and collaborating with all faiths. As Cardinal Goh explained to EWTN Vatican, “The state sees us as partners. We are partners of the government because it is for the common good of the people. We take care of spiritual needs, we help the government govern justly, we express our opinions, and the government is very grateful to us.” The Pope also admires Singapore’s pursuit of a foreign policy that avoids dependence on any one world power, which corresponds to his vision of a multipolar world that respects the autonomy of cultures. He often describes this vision of globalization metaphorically using the image of the polyhedron or the soccer ball: all cultures, like the faces of a polyhedron, should coexist and be able to prosper, without the homogenizing dominance of any state prevailing. The principle is that reality is greater than ideas. As Evangelii Gaudium explains, “It is dangerous to live in the realm of the word alone, of the image, of sophistry” (§ 231). Pope Francis dives into reality with his apostolic trip to Asia and Oceania this week. Millions of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and people who confess no faith will joyfully attend and receive the blessings of the Successor of Peter. May God continue to bless his ministry in the world. (Agenzia Fides 2/9/2024)*Victor Gaetan is a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Register and deals with international issues. He also writes for Foreign Affairs magazine and has contributed to Catholic News Service. He is the author of the book God’s Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy, and America’s Armageddon (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), published in paperback in July 2023. His website is VictorGaetan.orgShare:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
