Asia's Catholics, pilgrims of hope, gather in Penang

Over 800 delegates from more than 30 countries are attending the Congress that brings together the Churches of the entire continent, almost twenty years after the first meeting in Chang Mai. The vast majority of participants are lay people who will share their experiences until 30 November. Cardinal Francis: ‘Together for a deeper communion with God, creation and humanity’.

Penang (AsiaNews) - Filipinos and Indians are the two largest groups. But among Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan there are also the faces of ‘Greater China’. And there is no shortage of representatives from smaller Churches: Catholics from Laos, Brunei and Central Asian countries.

More than 800 people from over 30 countries are arriving in Penang, Malaysia, for the ‘Great Pilgrimage of Hope’, the jubilee event promoted by the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), which will bring together all the Churches of the continent from 27 November to Sunday 30 November.

Not only bishops and cardinals, but all the faces of God's people in Asia gathered for a great congress that comes almost twenty years after the only previous one held in 2006 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

If at that time the context was that of the most peripheral frontiers of the continent, today Penang and Malaysia become the symbol of the ‘new roads’ that, like the Magi returning from Bethlehem, the Churches of Asia are also called to undertake, according to the image suggested in 2022 in Bangkok by the Assembly held 50 years after the founding of the FABC.

It is no coincidence that the style of the ‘Great Pilgrimage of Hope’ will be that proposed by Pope Francis' Synods as a method for the whole Church. There will be reports and testimonies from cardinals, bishops and other significant figures from the Churches of Asia (and also from neighbouring Oceania), as well as a speech by Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who has come specially from Rome to accompany all four days.

The real heart of the meeting, however, will be the ‘conversations in the spirit,’ that is, small group sessions in which delegates will share their experiences, which in a vast and diverse continent like Asia are as varied as ever. Particular attention will be paid to the laity (over 500), who will make up the vast majority of those present. For example, there will also be discussion of how Christians in their daily professions can be a sign of hope for this continent, which perhaps more than any other today looks to the future but remains scarred by many wounds.

In this jubilee year, a particularly significant moment will be the pilgrimage that will take participants to the Basilica of St. Anne, the church built in 1846 in Bukit Mertajam by Fr. Adolphe Cuellan of the Missions Etrangeres de Paris, which the devotion of local Catholics has caused to grow to the point that it was officially recognised by the Vatican in 2019 as a minor basilica. Here, on the evening of Saturday 29 November, there will be a meeting with the faithful of the Diocese of Penang, with a celebration and a special evening that will be the main public event of the meeting.

The ‘Great Pilgrimage of Hope’ will be a particularly significant moment for the Catholic Church in Malaysia, as Cardinal Sebastian Francis, Bishop of Penang and the second cardinal in the history of this country, recalled in a welcome letter sent to all delegates: ‘We want to walk together on a journey in search of renewal, sowing seeds of hope and in deeper communion with God, creation and humanity.’ .

This communion also involves encounters between Christians and other major religions on the continent. Malaysia is a significant example of this: of its approximately 35 million inhabitants, Muslims make up about two-thirds; Christians are about 9%, alongside other large Buddhist, Hindu and other faith communities.

‘The peoples of Asia belong to many organised religions with a long history, which have always lived in harmony, working together and helping one another,’ recalled Msgr. George Palliparambil, Bishop of Miao in India and President of the FABC Commission that organised this event, in a video message published by Radio Veritas. "We gather for this great celebration as the peoples of Asia. And it is meant to be a source of hope for all the people with whom we live."