The Pope, on the threshold of 88 years of age and with the well-known health problems, He is preparing to make the longest journey of his pontificate in Asia and Oceania. “His health is good and he feels he has the strength to face it,” Father Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary of the Department of Culture who will travel with the Pope as always, said in an interview with Adnkronos. “We have already seen it: if he doesn’t feel up to it, he doesn’t go, as happened with the trip to Congo and South Sudan which was postponed for health reasons and the one to Dubai for Cop28. So, from this point of view there are no particular concerns. I once pointed out to the Holy Father that the pace of a trip – which he then made successfully – was excessive. He replied curtly: ‘I didn’t accept the pontificate to rest’.” Spadaro also recalls that this trip “was planned before the pandemic. It was Francis’ specific desire to visit this area of the world.”
“Francesco – notes Father Spadaro – has always expressed a clear interest in Asia: the Church is developing steadily and free from dynamics that I could define as ‘Constantinian’ in its relationship with political power, as has happened in the rest of the world; it is a continent in which Christianity has encountered religions and secular wisdom, with which it has entered into dialogue in one way or another, despite the conflicts; it is a continent in strong development that also experiences geopolitical tensions. I was struck, for example, that one can superimpose the map of Francis’s journey and the itinerary of the aircraft carrier Cavour, capable – as its captain said – of intervening in the theater of the ‘new geopolitical competition’ with a carrier strike group and the maximum expression of maritime military power. It is a ‘hot’ area of the world”.
Christians in many countries that the Pope will visit are a small number compared to the population. “Francis – notes Spadaro, former director of Civiltà Cattolica – does not pay attention to numbers, of which he is well aware, but to seeds capable of bearing fruit and of giving a future. He sees in the ‘zero point’ churches the possibility of an action and a strong evangelical testimony within the dough of society. We have seen it also on other trips, often verifying the dynamism of small churches. The Pope proposes an alternative vision compared to the one obsessed with large numbers, and therefore with the success given by the quantity of spaces that are occupied. Jesus – said Francis in Morocco, for example – did not choose us and send us so that we would become the most numerous, and he placed us in society as a small quantity of yeast. He is interested in the Church’s ability to generate and inspire change, wonder and compassion.. In Indonesia we have about 3% of Catholics in the most populous Islamic country in the world. This presence is appreciated. The dialogue with ‘nusantara’ Islam is a strong theme of the trip. Indonesia is not a confessional state and civil coexistence is based on the ‘Pancasila’, the 5 principles that can be read in the light of the encyclical Fratelli tutti: faith in the one and only God; justice and human civilization; unity; democracy guided by interior wisdom; social justice for all the people”.
“I remember that the Istiqal Mosque was built in front of the Cathedral and the two buildings are connected by an underground tunnel called the ‘Tunnel of Friendship’. The Pope will be there. On the other hand, in East Timor, where Catholics are 97%, the ‘Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace’ – signed on February 4, 2019 by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayyeb – was received by the President as a ‘national document’”.
Father Antonio Spadaro draws attention to two strong themes of the long journey that the Pontiff is preparing to undertake: “Dialogue with Islam, which is one of Francis’ priorities, and the commitment of Christians to build the common good in the societies where they find themselves, collaborating with everyone with ‘social friendship’, as Francis calls it. A strong message will be against the opposing fundamentalisms (Islamic in Indonesia and Christian in Papua New Guinea, the fruit of evangelical settlements) that unsuccessfully try to undermine coexistence”.
As for the content that the new stages may add, Spadaro observes: “I believe it is a stage that will forcefully confirm some themes developed in the magisterium of Francis. We will fly to an area of the world of geopolitical tensions and that has experienced religious and political conflicts (including those within islands – Timor and New Guinea – each shared by two states), but which expresses a desire for peace and democracy. In a context in which the world order is falling apart, the fact that his message of peace comes from the southeast of the Pacific has a particular meaning. And certainly this trip will be the context to relaunch the ecological question that in Laudate Deum has become a cry with an apocalyptic flavor. In some areas of this quadrant the risk is very high”.
Bergoglio will also stop in Singapore. A passage that could somehow contribute to the difficult dialogue with China? “Of course, it is worth noting that the Pope continues his tour of China (Mongolia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Kazakhstan,…). In Singapore, the community of Chinese origin is significant. So Francis is certainly looking at that great country. But Singapore is certainly a city-state of very significant strategic and economic importance. It is one of the main cosmopolitan cities in the world, with an important role in international trade and finance. Its port is among the top five in terms of activity and traffic on a global scale. This translates into a multi-ethnic and multi-religious dimension, where pluralism has helped shape relationships between institutions and religions. Religious ‘harmony’ remains fundamental to its Constitution. And Singapore has a truly lively Church. Francis loves these situations where harmony is sought.”
The Pope will also meet local Jesuits as in every trip. “In his meetings with the Jesuits,” Father Spadaro recalls, “the Pope offers the first personal echoes of the trip he is making. The meeting itself is a surprise that does not have a fixed script: the Pope does not want to make speeches or listen to them, but asks them to ask him questions to which he responds. He has created a real, very personal ‘genre’ of papal communication that expresses original thought.”
At the end of the trip, the Pope’s conversations with the Jesuits will become a book. Father Spadaro announces that on September 17 Garzanti will publish a volume entitled ‘Pope Francis, be tender, be courageous’ edited by him “which contains the first eighteen conversations that I have transcribed so far as an eyewitness of these meetings. I am waiting to see what will happen and what he will say now in the meetings in Indonesia, East Timor and Singapore”.
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