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POPE FRANCIS GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter’s Square – Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Catechesis. The Apostolic Journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today I want to start with some good news: I want to introduce you to two suicidal people who are getting married next Saturday! A round of applause for them! It is beautiful to see when love leads us to create a new family: that is why I wanted to present them to you, to thank the Lord.
And today I am going to speak about the Apostolic Journey I made in Asia and Oceania: it is called an Apostolic Journey because it is not a tourist trip, it is a journey to bring the Word of the Lord, to make the Lord known, and also to get to know the souls of the peoples. And this is very good.
Paul VI, in 1970, was the first Pope to fly towards the rising sun, with long visits to the Philippines and Australia, but pausing also in various Asian countries and in the Samoan Islands. And that was a memorable journey, wasn’t it? Because the first to leave the Vatican was Saint John XXIII, who went to Assisi by train; then, Saint Paul VI did a memorable journey!
In this one too I tried to follow his example but, being a few years older than he was, I limited myself to four countries: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.
I thank the Lord who allowed me, as an elderly Pope, to do what I would have liked to do as a young Jesuit, because I wanted to go there as a missionary!
A first reflection that comes naturally after this journey is that in thinking about the Church we are still too Eurocentric, or as they say, “Western”.
But in reality, the Church is much bigger, much bigger than Rome and Europe, much bigger!
And also, if I may say so, much more alive, in those countries.
I experienced this in an exciting way, meeting these communities, listening to the testimonies of priests, religious sisters, lay people and especially catechists – catechists are those who carry out evangelisation.
Churches that do not proselytise, but grow “by attraction”, as Benedict XVI wisely said.
In Indonesia, about ten per cent of the people are Christians, and three per cent Catholics – a minority.
But what I found was a Church that is alive, dynamic and capable of living and transmitting the Gospel in a country that has a very noble culture, which tends to harmonise diversity, and at the same time has the largest Muslim presence in the world.
In this context, I received confirmation that compassion is the path that Christians can and must take in order to bear witness to Christ the Savior and, at the same time, to meet the great religious and cultural traditions.
On the subject of compassion, let us not forget the three qualities of the Lord: closeness, mercy and compassion.
God is close, God is merciful and God is compassionate.
If a Christian does not have compassion, he is useless. “Faith, Fraternity, Mercy” was the motto of the visit to Indonesia: on the basis of these words, the Gospel enters into the lives of people every day in a concrete way, welcoming them and giving them the grace of Jesus who died and rose again.
These words are like a bridge, like the underpass that connects the Cathedral of Jakarta to the largest Mosque in Asia.
There, I saw that fraternity is the future, it is the answer to anti-civilization, to the diabolical plots of hatred and war – also sectarianism.
There is brotherhood, fraternity.
I rediscovered the beauty of an outbound missionary church in Papua New Guinea, an archipelago that stretches out towards the immensity of the Pacific Ocean.
There, the different ethnic groups speak over eight hundred languages – eight hundred languages are spoken there – an ideal environment for the Holy Spirit, who loves to make the message of love resonate in the symphony of languages.
What the Holy Spirit does is not uniformity, it is symphony, harmony;
He is the patron, He is the master of harmony.
In a special way, the missionaries and catechists were and are the protagonists.
I was happy to spend some time with the missionaries and catechists of today; and I was moved to listen to the songs and music of the young people: in them I saw a new future, without tribal violence, without dependency, without ideological and economic colonialism; a future of fraternity and care for the marvellous natural environment.
Papua New Guinea can be a “laboratory” for this model of integral development, inspired by the “leaven” of the Gospel.
There can be no new humanity without new men and women, and only the Lord can create them,
I would also like to mention the visit to Vanimo, where the missionaries are between the forest and the sea. They enter the forest in search of the most hidden tribes, there… that is a beautiful memory.
The power of the Christian message of human and social promotion is particularly evident in the history of Timor-Leste.
There, the Church has shared the process of independence with the entire population, always guiding it towards peace and reconciliation.
It is not a question of ideologising faith, no; it is faith that becomes culture and at the same time enlightens it, purifies it, elevates it.
That is why I have rekindled the fruitful relationship between faith and culture, to which John Paul II had referred during his visit.
Faith and culture.
Faith must be inculturated and cultures must be evangelized.
But above all, I was struck by the beauty of the people: a people who have endured much but are joyful, a people wise in suffering.
A population that not only bears a lot of children – there was a sea of children, so many, eh? – but also teaches them how to smile.
Faith and culture.
But above all, I was struck by the beauty of the people: a people who have endured much but are joyful, a people wise in suffering.
A population that not only gives birth to many children – there was a sea of children, so many, eh? – but also teaches them to smile.
I will never forget the smiles of the children of this country, of this region.
The children there are always smiling, and there are many of them.
Faith teaches them to smile, and that is a guarantee for the future.
In short, in Timor-Leste I saw the youthfulness of the Church: families, children, young people, many seminarians and aspirants to the consecrated life.
I would say, without exaggeration, that I breathed the “air of spring”!
The last stop on this trip was Singapore.
A country very different from the other three: a city-state, ultra-modern, an economic and financial center for Asia and beyond.
Christians are a minority there, but they form a vibrant Church, committed to harmony and fraternity between different ethnicities, cultures and religions.
Even in wealthy Singapore there are the “little ones”, who follow the Gospel and become salt and light, witnesses to a hope greater than what economic gains can guarantee.
I would like to thank these peoples who listened to me with such warmth and love, and their governors, who helped so much with this visit so that it could take place in an orderly manner and without problems.
I thank all those who also collaborated, and I thank God for the gift of this trip! And I repeat my thanks to everyone, to everyone.
May God bless the peoples I encountered and guide them on the way to peace and fraternity! Greetings to all!
