2014-08-11 15:48:00

Pope's Korea visit to boost missionary impulse, dialogue


According to an official of the Catholic Church of India and Asia, the visit of Pope Francis ‎to South Korea, August 14-18, will give "a great missionary impetus to dialogue", mainly because ‎‎"Asia's reality is multi-cultural."  Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado, Bishop of Vasai, president of the ‎Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue of the Federation of Asian Bishops ‎‎'Conferences (FABC), as well as president of the Office for Ecumenism and Dialogue of the Catholic ‎Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), shared his thoughts with AsiaNews.   Arch. Machado said that ‎the Pope’s Korean visit could be been a prophetic opening for next year’s golden jubilee celebrations of ‎‎‘Nostra Aetate’, the Second Vatican Council document on the Church’s relations with other religions.  ‎The prelate underscored the multi-cultural nature of Asia's reality, with the continent home to three eminent ‎world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.  “Hence,” he said, “the visit of the Holy Father will ‎keep the tradition of meeting people from other faiths.”   Archbishop Machado, a former official at the ‎Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, noted that the Church in Asia continues to ‎engage in dialogue with peoples, cultures and religions, and the visit of Pope Francis will give a ‎great missionary impetus to dialogue.   "Religions," he noted, "have an indispensable role in the promotion of peace ‎and development, and the visit of our Holy Father could play a significant and defining role for leaders ‎of religious faiths endeavoring to promote the human rights of all people in building a more peaceful ‎and just world.‎"








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