FABC 50th Year Celebrations: Message of the Holy Father for August 22

As the Federation of Asian Bishop_s’Conferences marks the fiftieth anniversary of its establishment and inaugurates a season of spiritual preparation for the celebration of its first General Conference in October next, I send warm greetings and prayerful good wishes to you, your brother Bishops, and all taking part in this signi:ficant ecclesial event. It is my hope that the FABC 50 General Conference will renew the Churches in Asia in fraternal communion and in missionary zeal for the spread of the Gospel among the richly diverse peoples, cultures and social realities of the vast Asian continent.

The theme chosen for the General Conference – Journeying Together as Peoples ofAsia… “and they went a different way”- is most fitting within the broader context of the synodal path of listening, dialogue and discernment undertaken by the universal Church in these years of preparation for the next Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. I pray that the deliberations of the General Conference will enable your local Churches to develop, within the polyhedric unity of the People of God (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 237), creatively “different ways” to proclaim the joy of the Gospel, to form new generations of missionary disciples, and to labour for the extension of Christ’s kingdom of universal holiness, justice and peace.

With these sentiments, I invoke upon the forthcoming assembly a rich outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Commending you, your Brother Bishops and all those entrusted to your pastoral care to the prayers of Mary, Mother of the Church, I cordially send my blessing as a pledge of wisdom, grace and peace in the Lord.

From the Vatican, 5 June 2022