Cardinal Tagle to the Churches of Asia: “Walking Together”: Learning from the First Steps of a Child

Jakarta (Fides News Agency) – Speaking at the 12th Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) taking place at Hotel Mulia in Jakarta, Indonesia, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, delivered the opening meditation of the day-long retreat on July 22 focused on synodal conversion and bridge-building across Asia.

As reported by Radio Veritas Asia, addressing bishops, clergy, religious, and lay delegates gathered from across the continent, the Cardinal urged participants to look beyond mere structural plans or pastoral strategies, grounding the mission of the Church in a deep encounter with Jesus Christ and a lived experience of human solidarity.

Walking Together: Learning from the First Steps of a Child

First, Cardinal Tagle invited the assembly to re-examine the core concept of synodality. “We say synodality means walking together,” Cardinal Tagle told the assembly. “But have we studied well the phenomenon of walking?” Drawing an analogy from child development, the cardinal noted that walking "needs skills, balance, coordination, the capacity to stand up." Applying these physical lessons to the life of the Church, Cardinal Tagle asked what spiritual “muscle strength,” mutual balance, and trust the Asian Church needs to foster a culture of listening and discernment. He cautioned against measuring synodal success purely by "efficiency or institutional speed," highlighting instead the necessity of "compassionate accompaniment."

Sharing a deeply personal story about his parents, both 96 years old, his father mentally alert but unable to walk, and his mother still mobile with assistance, Cardinal Tagle asked: “How do you walk with someone who cannot walk?” “You stay,” he answered. “You touch the hand. You whisper to his ears, and he is assured he is not alone.” He warned against modern forms of individualism, such as being constantly absorbed in mobile screens, and urged the Church to remain attentively beside those who struggle or have fallen behind.

Christ, the True Bridge-Builder

Then the cardinal proposed a reflection about the theme of the Assembly: “Synodal Conversion and the Mission to Be Bridges and Bridge-Builders in Asia.” Drawing upon John 1:43–51 and the biblical image of Jacob’s ladder, he explained, as detailed by Radio Veritas Asia: “The ladder suggests Jesus as the bridge in whom God and humanity, and I would say creation, are held together,” Cardinal Tagle reflected. “The Word through whom creation came into being entered creation itself.” “Jesus is God’s way of showing us who God truly is,” he continued. “And Jesus is also the human way of showing us how to be fully human. To be with God is not to be far from humanity and creation.”

Warning church leaders against any language that frames preaching as merely “lowering oneself” to the level of the faithful, the cardinal said "Jesus' coming into the world was not an act of condescension but of love for 'his own.'" He exhorted the assembly to anchor all pastoral discernment in the person of Christ before launching structural initiatives and "to pray with biblical images rather than abstract concepts" to gain inspiration.

Echoing the Papal Mandate: “Builders of Communion”

Cardinal Tagle’s emphasis on authentic bridge-building deeply echoes the spiritual vision outlined by Pope Leo XIV in his official letter of appointment sent to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop Emeritus of Bombay, designating him as the Pope’s Special Envoy (Missus Extraordinarius) to the 12th FABC Plenary Assembly. In his letter dated June 24, 2026, Pope Leo XIV called upon the pastors of Asia to be true “builders of communion” rather than worldly architects building structures doomed to collapse:
“Ad hoc cupienda est nobis haec benedictio et a Deo imploranda, ut structores communionis fiamus et non architecti huius saeculi Babylonis; servi Regni futuri, non aedificatores turrium in ruina destinatarum. Corde ergo pastorali ac paterno omnes exhortari cupimus, ut opus exstruendae alterius Babylonis sistatur et vires uniantur ad verum bonum aedificandum...” (“For this reason, we must desire and implore from God this blessing: that we become builders of communion and not architects of the Babel of this world; servants of the Kingdom to come, not builders of towers destined for ruin. With a pastoral and paternal heart, we wish to exhort everyone to halt the building of another Babel and unite our forces to build the true good...”) — Pope Leo XIV, Letter to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, 24 June 2026 (citing Encyclical Magnifica humanitas, 16).

By presenting Christ as the sole foundation of all genuine reconciliation, Cardinal Tagle’s address reinforces the Holy Father’s mandate to the Asian Church: to reject the self-referential “towers of Babel” of human division and to build up a common home rooted in charity, truth, justice, and peace. (MLK) (Fides News Agency, 22/7/2026)

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