Jonathan Y. Tan
(UCA News) — Pope Francis has always been fascinated by Asia, as evidenced by his frequent visits to the country. Asia is an important region for the pontiff as it accounts for two-thirds of the world's population and contains four of the top five most populous countries (India, China, Indonesia and Pakistan).
The pope is particularly interested in minority Catholic communities, as found in much of Asia, by contrast with Christian-majority regions in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.
For the Pope, Asia is also a region with great potential for growth for the Catholic Church.
In the 11 years since he became pope, Francis has made six visits to Asia: South Korea (2014), Sri Lanka and the Philippines (2015), Myanmar and Bangladesh (2017), Thailand and Japan (2019), Kazakhstan (2022) and Mongolia (2023).
This is his longest and most intensive trip to Asia, visiting four countries in Southeast Asia, one of the most diverse and pluralistic regions in the world. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country with a significant Catholic minority. Papua New Guinea is majority Christian with a significant Catholic minority, while Timor-Leste is 98 percent Catholic. Singapore is a country with great cultural diversity and religious pluralism, with a large minority Christian community and a large immigrant population.
Then there are socio-economic disparities: Singapore is a global banking and financial centre, while Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste suffer from deep poverty, high unemployment and low literacy rates.
Moving to a majority world
Francis is 87 and undertaking the arduous journey in increasing frailty and declining health — many fear it may be his last major international visit — but his determination speaks to how the pope sees Asia as key to the future of the Catholic Church worldwide.
Specifically, Southeast Asia, with its cultural, ethnic and religious diversity as well as social, political and economic diversity, represents a future growth region for Catholicism – a global Catholicism that goes beyond historical Eurocentrism.
This latest visit complements the Pope's previous visits to diverse and pluralistic parts of Asia, which together demonstrate his interest in building and strengthening intercultural, interethnic and interreligious relations, particularly in Indonesia and Singapore.
The Pope is also interested in encouraging and empowering minority Catholic communities living among other religious majority communities throughout Asia, as is evident from his previous and upcoming visits to Asia, particularly to Indonesia and Singapore.
Not surprisingly, Francis recognizes that the center of gravity of Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular, has shifted from Europe and North America to the majority of the world, the so-called Global South. In fact, roughly two-thirds of the world's Catholics are from outside Europe and North America.
For Francis, the continental regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia represent the growing presence of Christianity in general and the future growth trajectory of Catholicism in particular.
As the Pew Research Center points out, Catholicism experienced tremendous growth in Asia in the 20th century, with Catholics increasing from 5% of the world's population in 1910 to 12% in 2010 and from 1% of Asia's total population in 1910 to 3% in 2010.
Furthermore, while Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI focused on Europe and North America, denouncing the growing secularization and emphasizing the need to revitalize Catholicism in these two regions, Pope Francis is more interested in the growth of Catholicism in areas outside of Europe and North America.
Francis has appointed more cardinals (under the age of 80) from Latin America, Africa and Asia who can vote in the conclave that elects the pope. In fact, Asian cardinals of voting age are set to increase from 9 percent in 2013, when Francis took office, to 18 percent by 2024.
Interreligious stress
Pope Francis' intention to visit Indonesia stems from his interest and enthusiasm for Islamic-Christian dialogue, as evidenced by his signing of the Abu Dhabi Declaration (Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Coexistence) with Archbishop of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, on February 4, 2019.
Francis released his third encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” in 2020, in which he discussed universal human fraternity and solidarity, so it is not surprising that a highlight of his visit to Indonesia was an interreligious dialogue event with leaders of the major religions at Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque.
Pastoral Concern
Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste are both Christian-majority countries: Papua New Guinea is 90% Christian, of which 64% are Protestant and 26% are Catholic, while Timor-Leste is 97.6% Catholic and 1.98% Protestant.
More importantly, Port Moresby and Dili will host a significant number of Indonesian Catholics from Indonesia's Christian-majority province of East Nusa Tenggara, or Nusa Tenggara Timor, which comprises the islands of Sumba, Flores, West (Indonesia) Timor, and the surrounding islands of Guinea and Timor, including the Portuguese and Dutch colonized Maluku (Moluccas) Islands.
For Indonesian Catholics from Nusa Tenggara Timur, traveling to Port Moresby or Dili is cheaper and faster than flying to Jakarta, which is more expensive and takes longer.
Indonesia may be the world's largest Muslim country, but most of its Christians are concentrated in Nusa Tenggara Timur, where 89.89 percent of the population is Christian, with 53.73 percent Catholic and 36.16 percent Protestant.
In particular, on the island of Flores, where 83.56 percent of the population is Catholic, a legacy of Portuguese colonial rule, Francis' apostolic visit there also has a pastoral significance, as it bears witness to the Catholic majority in this part of the Indonesian archipelago and encourages and strengthens Catholics in the midst of their many difficulties and struggles.
At the same time, Pope Francis is also trying to shine a spotlight on struggling communities in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, who are dealing with extreme poverty, high rates of illiteracy and unemployment, and the impacts of climate change on island communities.
*Jonathan Y. Tan is a professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and the author of several critically acclaimed books on Asian mission and theology. Born in Malaysia, raised in Singapore, and working in Australia and the US, Jonathan's research interests are in global Catholicism with a special focus on Catholicism in Asia, specialising in mission and liturgical studies. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial policy of UCA News.
