Asian bishops opened their regional assembly Monday with a call for the Catholic Church to answer hostility and persecution by becoming a bridge for dialogue, reconciliation, and peace.
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), said Catholics in several Asian countries operate in hostile environments but must continue building relationships with other religious and cultural communities.
“It’s true that in Asia, in so many countries, the Church is facing a hostile environment,” Ferrão said during the opening press conference of the FABC’s 12th Plenary Assembly in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“That’s precisely why I think the Church has the responsibility of establishing relations of dialogue and taking on a spirit of reconciliation,” he said.
The prelate stressed that a synodal Church “is precisely a relational Church—a Church that is ready to listen, to dialogue.”
Ferrão was responding to a question about whether the persecution of Christians remains one of the principal challenges facing the Church in Asia.
“The Church believes that even in a hostile environment where there are challenges—sometimes even persecution—the Church has a special role of being not only a bridge builder, but a bridge herself, and to promote peace, harmony, and dialogue,” he said.
The cardinal said interreligious engagement is essential to the Church’s mission in Asia, a continent marked by religious, cultural, and linguistic diversity.
“Interreligious dialogue and harmony is not an option in Asia—it’s an imperative,” Ferrão said.
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, FABC vice president and chairman of its Commission for Synodality, cited Indonesia’s Pancasila as an example of shared values that could help reduce tensions among religious communities.
The Filipino bishop said the Indonesian state philosophy reflects a common commitment to human dignity, social justice, and faith in God.
“There are more elements that unite us than divide us, really,” he said.
“If we focus on that, I think our relationships will be much improved among faith communities, and we will no longer refer to religions in FABC as ‘other religions’, but as ‘neighbor religions’,” he added.
The assembly will conclude with a visit to Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque following Mass at the neighboring Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.
Participants will walk through the Terowongan Silaturahmi, or Tunnel of Friendship, which connects the two places of worship.
Bishop Marcelino Antonio Maralit Jr., chairman of the FABC Office of Social Communication, described the visit as “a very important, symbolic gesture about the good relationship with Islam, especially, but also with other religions.”
The July 20-26 assembly has brought together more than 120 cardinals and bishops representing 22 episcopal conferences and ecclesiastical jurisdictions across Central, East, South, and Southeast Asia.
Its theme is “The Call to Synodal Conversion and the Mission to Be Bridges and Bridge Builders in Asia.”
The bishops are expected to issue a final document offering pastoral guidance on synodality and a message to Catholics across the region.
