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100 YEARS SINCE THE ORDINATION OF THE FIRST SIX CHINESE BISHOPS - Bishop Aloysius Chen Guodi and the Diocese of Fenyang

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:55:16 +0200

One hundred years since the ordination of the first six Chinese Bishops consecrated in modern times , Fides News Agency is dedicating a series of documentary profiles on these Successors of the Apostles and on their dioceses, which were at the heart of this crucial event in the history of the Catholic Church in China.

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by Prof. Liu Zhiqing

Fenyang — The Diocese of Fenyang, in Shanxi Province, was the third diocese to be entrusted to the governance of a member of the Chinese clergy. It was established on May 7, 1926, as the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang. Its first bishop, Aloysius Chen Guodi, was one of the first group of six Chinese bishops consecrated by Pope Pius XI in Rome on October 28, 1926. He had been appointed bishop on May 10, 1926.

1. History of the Diocese

On May 7, 1926, the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang was separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Taiyuan, which was administered by the Italian Franciscans. In 1925, the Vicariate was divided into three deaneries. It had 35,187 baptized Catholics and 48 priests, 26 of of whom were foreigners and 22 Chinese. The Chinese clergy therefore accounted for 45.83 percent.
At the time of its establishment, the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang had 11,492 baptized Catholics and 17 Chinese priests, including the Apostolic Vicar.
In July 1926, Archbishop Celso Costantini, the first Apostolic Delegate to China, visited Taiyuan. In his memoirs, he wrote that his visit to the Vicariate of Taiyuan was intended to define the boundaries of the new dioceses entrusted to the local clergy.
The Apostolic Vicar of Taiyuan, Agapito Fiorentini , wholeheartedly supported the Holy See’s directives to entrust the leadership of dioceses to Chinese bishops.
“I therefore proceeded with the final consultations and choice of the new bishops,” Costantini wrote in his memoirs .

On April 11, 1946, the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang was raised to the rank of a Diocese.
In 1949, the Diocese of Fenyang comprised 15 counties. According to Zhao Qingyuan, author of “Chronology of the Division of Catholic Dioceses in China and the Succession of Their Bishops”, the diocese had 139 churches and chapels, 31 priests , and 15,618 baptized Catholics.

2. The Bishops of the Diocese

The first bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang was Aloysius Chen Guodi , a member of the Order of Friars Minor.
Aloysius Chen was born on November 15, 1875, in the village of Anyang, near Lu’an, Shanxi, into a family that had been Catholic for generations. He entered the Order of Friars Minor on October 4, 1896, in Dongergou and was ordained a priest on March 15, 1903.
For nine years, he carried out missionary work in Xinxian County and other areas, later serving as secretary to two Italian bishops who headed dioceses in China.
In addition to teaching Latin and apologetics at the Taiyuan Seminary, Aloysius Chen also led a Catholic secondary school in the city, Mingyuan School.

In 1911, Chen Guodi was appointed parish priest of Taiyuan Cathedral. He later led a Catholic middle school in the city.

On May 10, 1926, Chen Guodi was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Fenyang, with the titular see of Attuda. On October 28, 1926, he received episcopal consecration at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome from Pope Pius XI, becoming one of the first six Chinese bishops consecrated in modern times.

In 1927, Bishop Aloysius Chen founded the diocesan minor seminary; in 1928, he established a preparatory seminary. That same year, he welcomed ten consecrated laywomen from the charitable association Baochihui from the parish of Qingtang in Linxian County. He also established a charitable institution in the city to receive and care for abandoned infants.
He died on March 10, 1930, at the age of 55.

Following the death of Aloysius Chen Guodi, Francis Liu Jinwen was consecrated bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang on October 12, 1930. He served until January 15, 1948, and died on April 3, 1951.
On June 9, 1949, Simon Lei Zhenxia was consecrated bishop of the Diocese of Fenyang. Arrested in 1955, he was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on February 16, 1971.

3. The development of the Diocese

The Diocese of Fenyang originated from several parishes in the Fenzhoufu deanery that belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Taiyuan. After 24 years of growth, the number of baptized Catholics had reached approximately 15,600, while there were 30 priests .
Statistics on pastoral activity and the development of the diocese over the years are provided in the table below.

Table of Pastoral Statistics of the Diocese of Fenyang, 1926–1950

Periodo/Anno	Vescovi	Sacerdoti		Religiose		Popolazione	cattolici
Periodo/Anno	Vescovi	stranieri	cinesi	straniere	Cinesi	Popolazione	cattolici
1926-1927	1		16			14	11492
1927-1928	1		18			2	12051
1928-1929	1		19			2	15605
1929-1930	1		19			2	15605
1930-1931	1		24			2	12301
1933	1		26			2	12629
1934	1		25			2	12874
1935	1		24			2.06	13239
1936	1		23			2	13645
1937	1	2	23			2	13975
1938	1	1	25			2	14550
1939	1	1	27			2	15247
1940	1	1	28			2	15197
1941	1	1	27			2	15524
1942	1	1	30			2	15949
1943	1	1	29			2	15656
1947	1	1	29			2.1	15050
1948	1	1	29			2.1	15600
1949	1	1	29			2.1	15600
1950	1		44				15600

Source: Les missions de Chine et du Japon, Les missions de Chine, Annuaire des Missions Catholiques de Chine.

Bible and cultures: Christian identity as encounter

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:11:07 +0200

by Marie-Lucile Kubacki

Rome — “Very often, our identity is: ‘I am because you are not.’” For Nicoletta Gatti, a lecturer in biblical studies at the University of Ghana, it is precisely in this contrast — visible today in nationalism, religious polarization and fear of foreigners — that a crucial question arises: how can faith help build a sense of belonging that does not exclude others?
This is the question addressed by “Culture, Bible, Identity: Christian Faith and Interculturality”, a volume recently published by the Catholic Biblical Federation , the result of the international online conference “Culture – Bible – Identity: Intercultural-Biblical Reflections on Christian Identity”, held from January 21 to 23, 2025. The volume is available free of charge online and can be downloaded from the Federation’s website as part of its academic series, “Contextual Readings of the Bible”, launched with this first volume.

The conference was organized by the CBF General Secretariat and the biblical-pastoral association “Verbum Domini”, in collaboration with the University of Ghana and Paris Lodron University, Salzburg. The project brought together scholars from different geographical and cultural contexts to examine the formation of Christian identity in the early communities and its development in today’s contemporary, postcolonial and pluralistic world.
In the preface, Father Jan Stefanów, CBF Secretary General, describes the book as the Federation’s first publication since 2008 and recalls that it brings together contributions presented at the conference. His hope, he writes, is that the volume will inaugurate “a fruitful path of academic-pastoral reflection”, based on a contextualized rereading of the Word of God contained in Scripture.
Stefanów also highlights the international character of the project: biblical texts are reread through African, Asian, European and Latin American perspectives.

A free book, the result of a shared collaboration

The volume’s free availability is a central element of the project. The contributions are not restricted to a circle of specialists or to subscribers to an academic series. The CBF states that its publications are offered online free of charge to the widest possible audience, and that the book can either be read on the website or downloaded.
For Gatti, the volume is the result of collaboration and intellectual friendship. “It is a friendship that continues!” she says in an interview with Fides, adding that she is “only its spokesperson”. The conference was the first event organized by the “Verbum Domini” association, established to provide a coordinating space for biblical scholars wishing to maintain a connection with the Catholic Biblical Federation.
The volume is edited by Gatti and theologian Franz Gmainer-Pranzl, Professor of Intercultural Theology at the University of Salzburg. It opens with Gatti’s introduction, A Hermeneutic Vision for Inclusive Community, and is divided into two sections: the first focuses on contextual methods and mission; the second on intercultural exegesis.
Among other subjects, the contributions examine the reception of Scripture in African Pentecostal contexts, in India and in Europe, and offer rereadings of biblical passages through different cultural experiences.
In the second section, devoted to intercultural exegesis, eleven scholars reread Scripture from within concrete contexts. To give just a few examples, Hagar, the Egyptian slave woman driven into the desert, becomes a voice for Dalit women in India. The Magi in Matthew’s Gospel, travellers who cross borders, challenge an African Christianity tempted to turn in on itself. The bent-over woman in Luke 13, whom Jesus calls ‘daughter of Abraham’, calls into question traditions that continue to marginalize women today.
Wojciech Szypuła’s concluding remarks bring together the various strands of the discussion. Gatti explains that the project continues an earlier initiative, Salvation in a Crisis-Ridden World: An Intercultural Exegetical Answer , which sought to explore how the Word of God could speak to a world marked by the pandemic and its aftermath.
“We all work in academia, but we are also deeply involved in pastoral ministry,” she says. Hence the need to “build a bridge” between university teaching and research, on the one hand, and communities and pastoral realities, on the other.

The Bible in dialogue among cultures

The central question underpinning this project concerns the relationship between the Christian message and the contexts in which it is received. How did the authors of the New Testament express the faith in worlds shaped by different cultures, from Judaism and Hellenism to the Roman Empire? How did the first evangelizers proclaim the Gospel across cultural boundaries? And what constitutes Christian identity if there is no single cultural form in which it must necessarily be expressed?
“The Bible is increasingly becoming a field for specialists,” Gatti observes in the interview. The risk, she adds, is that exegetical work remains confined to the classroom and fails to engage with the people for whom Scripture is part of everyday life.
The project therefore proposes a twofold movement: to study the text within its original context and to bring it into dialogue with the culture of those who read it today. It is not a matter of mechanically applying an ancient answer to a modern situation, but of allowing the text and the community to question one another.
Gatti speaks of her teaching experience in Ghana, where faith occupies a central place in public life and everyday experience. Yet the presence of religion does not eliminate divisions. She describes a fragmented Christianity and recalls that her classes include Christian, Muslim and Jewish students.
This plurality also challenges the way she reads the Bible.
“I realized that my way of reading Scripture, my way of understanding faith, was a way of seeing things through cultural lenses — for example, through my Christian and Catholic traditions. I realized that this is one perspective. But there are others.”
Reading the texts through other experiences, she adds, can reveal aspects that a single perspective fails to perceive.
“Biblical texts emerge from a dialogue between the culture of origin and the culture of reception,” she says. Intercultural reading, therefore, is not an external addition, but a way of understanding the text and its potential more deeply.

From identity in opposition to communion

The question of identity, at the heart of the volume, is also a public issue. When belonging becomes a weapon, difference is perceived as a threat rather than as a source of enrichment.
Gatti invokes the African principle of Ubuntu: “I am because you are.” In her view, the expression challenges the idea that a person or a community can define itself only by opposing someone else.
“When we look at the other through the lens of fear, the other is immediately turned into an enemy,” she says.
This can lead to dehumanization: dignity and full humanity come to be attributed only to those who belong to one’s own nation, religion or community. It is a dynamic that affects society, but, the biblical scholar warns, it can also enter into the life of the Churches.
Scripture itself, she emphasizes, does not hide the tensions between openness and closure. Some texts express a concern to protect the boundaries of the community; others, through figures such as Ruth and Jonah, place the welcome of a foreigner and mercy towards the enemy at the centre.
These tensions do not authorize us to simplify the biblical text. Rather, they invite us to return to the question of what it means to recognize another person as a human being.
In her conversation with Fides, Gatti identifies four areas that she considers important for the life of the Church as well: truly knowing the culture in which one lives; building communities capable of welcoming others; rereading Scripture while holding together ancient texts and contemporary questions; and refusing to reduce faith to an intellectual exercise.
“The New Testament was born out of friendship,” she says, evoking the image of communities united by bonds capable of attracting and including others.
The first Christian communities, she adds, were not free of conflict. Their lesson is not one of idealized harmony, but rather the possibility of facing divisions openly and working through them by means of dialogue.
“Dialogue is always possible,” Gatti says, pointing to the ability to recognize one another as a concrete space in which relationships can be rebuilt.
It is within this horizon that the book — born from an online encounter among scholars from different countries — seeks to make a contribution beyond the academic sphere: a collection of biblical readings exploring how faith can take shape in different cultures without erasing them.
In her introduction, Gatti hopes that the volume may be both “a mirror and a map”: a mirror of the complexities of our world and a map towards a future in which the promise of belonging may be fulfilled “in every community, in every heart, in every generation”.
It is an invitation addressed not only to specialists, but to anyone, within the Church and beyond, who asks how to live out one’s identity without building it against someone else.

EUROPE/FRANCE - Bishop Aldo Berardi: “What Metz can teach Ukraine, the Holy Land and the Middle East about reconciliation”

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:04:19 +0200

by Antonella Prenna

Ars-sur-Moselle – From the wounds left by the wars that devastated Lorraine to the search for a path towards reconciliation in Ukraine, the Holy Land and the Gulf. Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Metz on September 28 took on a significance for Bishop Aldo Berardi, O.SS.T., Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, that went far beyond his ties to his homeland. A native of Ars-sur-Moselle, just a few kilometres from Metz, the Bishop experienced the encounter with the Pope as an opportunity to revisit the history of his own communities, as well as the wounds of the peoples he accompanies today.

“I experienced this event with great emotion and deep involvement, together with all the other bishops who were present, including those from other countries,” he told Fides News Agency. Bishop Berardi took part in the meetings on Europe and interreligious dialogue promoted by Pope Leo XIV in memory of Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, as well as in the Holy Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral.

“During Mass I was seated near Ihor Rantsya, Bishop of Ukrainian Catholics of the Byzantine Rite and recently appointed Eparch of Saint Volodymyr the Great in Paris. For those of us who are experiencing war at home, Pope Leo XIV’s call for peace and reconciliation resonated particularly strongly.”

It is precisely the history of Metz and Lorraine, a land marked by wars, deportations and divisions, that offered Bishop Berardi a key to understanding contemporar

“The destruction of entire villages caused by the three wars made the reconciliation process more difficult and demanding, even though, despite everything, it was eventually achieved by the founding fathers of Europe. This led Bishop Ihor Rantsya and me to ask ourselves a question: could the same path of reconciliation also be undertaken in the Middle East or in Ukraine?”

The European journey, the Apostolic Vicar recalls, was far from easy. “The history of these lands speaks of deep wounds, of young men forcibly enlisted and compelled to fight against their own French brothers, of expulsions and deportations. Even today, some tensions can still be felt.”
Franco-German reconciliation, he stresses, was not an immediate process. “In the past, it was difficult to forgive and then to reconcile. Even though there were symbolic moments of Franco-German reconciliation, for the local population it was a very difficult and painful process.”

It is in the light of this memory that Bishop Berardi now reads Pope Leo XIV’s words. “They were extremely powerful and a great source of encouragement for those of us living in areas of conflict. They offered us hope for reconciliation – a reconciliation made possible through goodwill, forgiveness and justice, while also addressing concrete issues such as land and property, the presence of communities and equality among people.”

According to the Bishop, this message can be taken up again by Christian communities in the Gulf, Ukraine and the Holy Land. “We will revisit this address in our communities as a reflection on the possibility of embarking on a journey towards reconciliation. It will be a long journey, but certainly an important one.”

For Bishop Berardi, the subject of war is not an abstract matter. Ars-sur-Moselle itself still bears the scars of past conflicts. “Every situation of war and conflict touches me deeply. Even my own church of Saint-Martin was bombed and later rebuilt. Eighty percent of the village was destroyed. So this is a particularly sensitive issue for me.”

This is also why, when the current war began in the Gulf, the Apostolic Vicar sought to reassure the faithful by explaining to them the different nature of the conflict.
“It is not a ‘classic war’, in the sense that aircraft do not arrive and bomb everything. It is a particular kind of war, involving precise targets, economic warfare and pressure. Unfortunately, debris from intercepted drones has fallen on homes, causing injuries.” Yet the consequences for the population are severe. “Many people have lost their jobs, many have left, goods are no longer arriving, supplies are not coming in and factories are closing. We are managing to get by with what comes overland from Saudi Arabia, whose bridge has fortunately not been bombed. The economy is struggling, and neither oil nor gas can be exported.”

For Bishop Berardi, however, the end of hostilities would not automatically mean reconciliation. “We always hope for peace, but peace on paper does not mean healing the wounds of the population, which in this region are deep-rooted. We think of Jews, of tensions between Shiites and Sunnis, and of the persecution of certain minorities. This war has also reignited tensions within Muslim communities themselves.”

The visit to Metz thus also became a moment of fraternity among pastors from Churches living in contexts marked by war. “For me, it was a moment of peace and reflection. Here, at home, I was able to meet and exchange views with other bishops who live in difficult areas. It was a moment of fraternity among us, also because the Church itself has gone through difficult times.”

In the words of the Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, whose territory comprises Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the Cathedral of Metz ultimately provides a synthesis, with its stained-glass windows bearing witness to the presence and encounter of different cultures and civilizations.
“Metz Cathedral is a beautiful symphony of diversity that comes together to form the unity of the cathedral. It is also an example of unity and reconciliation,” concludes the Bishop.

Sudan’s war and the arms trade that supplies both sides

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 11:18:34 +0200

by Cosimo Graziani

Khartoum – Even in wartime, the laws of the market often prevail over geopolitical alignments and ideological affinities. The arms flows in the war that has ravaged Sudan since 2023 confirm this.

The Sudanese newspaper Ayin, with the help of analysts specializing in open-source intelligence , has provided a general yet clear overview of the arms supplies reaching the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces . The situation is very clear: supplies for both sides come from entities based in just a few countries, with complex networks and triangular arrangements that often end up providing weapons for both warring parties According to Ayin, Sudanese government defence companies reportedly signed a contract with the Turkish company Baykar in November 2023 for the supply of drones. The equipment supplied by the company reportedly included the well-known Bayraktar TB2. The total value of the contract is said to have been approximately €111 million. Six TB2 drones, three ground control stations and as many as 600 missile warheads were reportedly delivered. Bayraktar Akinci drones were also supplied. From a tactical standpoint, these differ from the TB2 because they are capable of flying at high altitudes, whereas the TB2 operates at medium altitude.
Other suppliers to the SAF are based in Iran. In this case, two Iranian-made models are reportedly involved: the Mohajer-6 and the Zajil-3. The difference highlighted by Ayin concerns the supply routes. The former reportedly reach Port Sudan by sea, while the latter are supplied through Sudan’s military-industrial complex, indicating a certain degree of development of the country’s domestic military industry.

The third country in which SAF suppliers operate is Pakistan. Here too, the supplies reportedly reach Port Sudan. In addition to drones, equipment supplied from Pakistan also includes ammunition jointly produced by Turkey’s Baykar and the Islamabad-based National Aerospace Science and Technology Park.
The SAF and RSF supply chains have one paradoxical feature in common: both use Chinese- and Serbian-made civilian technology that is converted into military technology, Ayin reports. The equipment arrives in Sudan, where it is modified. Drones produced by manufacturers based in China, including the FeiHong FH-95 and CH-95C models, are also reportedly reaching the RSF.

The Sudanese outlet highlights another important element: supplies to the RSF are channelled through a network whose key hubs are located in the United Arab Emirates. Through this network, the RSF also receives the same types of Turkish-made drones supplied to the SAF.
The supply flows reaching the RSF, and the points they share with those of the SAF, clearly demonstrate that business is business even in wartime, and that arms manufacturers can readily reach and supply weapons to every faction involved in a conflict.

ASIA/MALAYSIA - Repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar: Malaysia and Bangladesh take different approaches

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:14:40 +0200

Kuala Lumpur – The repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar is once again attracting international attention. In Malaysia, an initial operation to repatriate around 1,500 Myanmar nationals began on September 29, as part of a program that could eventually involve up to 5,000 people. In Bangladesh, however, where more than 1.2 million Rohingya live after fleeing mainly from the former Burma following the military crackdown in 2017, a return remains a distant prospect: the United Nations continues to maintain that conditions in Rakhine State are not yet in place for voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation.
The starting point is the right of the Rohingya to return to their homeland, but the two host countries envisage different paths towards that goal. Malaysia is proceeding through a bilateral agreement with the Myanmar government, presenting the returns as “voluntary”. Bangladesh insists that political, legal and security conditions must first be established to make a genuine and lasting return possible.

Kuala Lumpur organized the transfer of 1,476 Myanmar nationals, who left on September 29 aboard two Myanmar naval vessels accompanied by a hospital ship and identified by Myanmar authorities. Myanmar has stressed that the operation concerns people whose nationality has been verified and does not necessarily involve Rohingya, many of whom do not hold Myanmar citizenship. The broader plan agreed by Kuala Lumpur and Naypyidaw envisages the possible return of 5,000 Rohingya, but the actual composition of the groups and the procedures for their repatriation remain unclear.
Malaysia’s decision also reflects an increasingly complex domestic situation. The country hosts around 200,000 registered refugees from Myanmar, including a very large number of Rohingya, but it is not a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention and has no national system for determining “refugee status”.
In this context, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has opted for direct engagement with Myanmar authorities to organize the relocation of refugees, exposing the government to criticism. More than 160 civil society organizations have called for the deportations of Rohingya to be halted, warning that those returned could once again be exposed to violence or forced recruitment. The UN Refugee Agency has also stressed that it is not involved in the operation and reiterated that Myanmar currently does not provide “adequate conditions” for a safe return.

The situation is different in Bangladesh. Nearly 1.2 million Rohingya live in the camps of Cox’s Bazar, after nine years in exile. The UNHCR stresses that an entire generation is growing up in the camps and that the conditions for a voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return do not yet exist.
On September 23, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman presented a five-point plan to the United Nations, calling for: a credible roadmap for voluntary repatriation; an end to the violence in Rakhine State; agreed humanitarian funding; greater international accountability; and regional cooperation to combat human trafficking, arms trafficking and criminal networks.
Dhaka continues to stress that the crisis originated in Myanmar and that the solution must therefore be found in Myanmar. At the same time, it is calling on the international community not to leave Bangladesh alone in supporting a population that, after almost a decade, remains heavily dependent on humanitarian aid.

The main obstacle to repatriation is now the situation in Rakhine State, where most of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh originate. The region has become one of the main fronts of Myanmar’s civil war, with fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, which has captured parts of western Rakhine and now controls almost all the areas where the Rohingya once lived. As a result, the central government in Myanmar can negotiate citizenship and the legal status of those returning, but it does not effectively control all the territory to which they would have to return. Under these circumstances, the prospect of a mass return appears difficult to reconcile with the criteria set out by the United Nations.

The issue of citizenship also remains unresolved. Myanmar’s 1982 citizenship law left the vast majority of Rohingya without citizenship, with related consequences for their legal status, freedom of movement and access to fundamental rights. For this reason, UNHCR continues to identify specific conditions for sustainable return: security, freedom of movement, access to essential services, the ability to establish livelihoods and a pathway to citizenship.

Another source of tension concerns international justice. Bangladesh supports the proceedings brought by Gambia before the International Court of Justice over “alleged violations of the Genocide Convention” committed by the government of Myanmar. The International Criminal Court is also examining individual responsibility for alleged crimes against humanity.
Myanmar authorities currently argue that the existence of these proceedings makes a solution more difficult. Bangladesh, however, maintains that repatriation and the establishment of accountability are separate issues.
The proceedings before the International Court of Justice concern the responsibility of the State of Myanmar, while those before the International Criminal Court concern the possible criminal responsibility of individuals.

The Rohingya crisis in Southeast Asia therefore presents two distinct approaches to a possible solution. Malaysia is relying on direct dialogue and gradual repatriation, seeking to engage Myanmar authorities on a bilateral basis. Bangladesh is calling for a broader political process in which repatriation is accompanied by an end to the violence, legal guarantees, humanitarian funding and the involvement of international organizations.

ASIA/INDONESIA - Bishop of Larantuka after the earthquake: “We are experiencing great solidarity and remain united”. “Vocations in Flores: a gift for the whole Church”

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 14:10:42 +0200

by Paolo Affatato

Larantuka – “The situation in my diocese is still marked by suffering and uncertainty, but we are experiencing great solidarity, and this moves and encourages us.” Yohanes Hans Monteiro, who has been leading the Diocese of Larantuka – in the eastern part of the Indonesian island of Flores – for just a few months, describes to Fides the life of a community that, in recent weeks, has been accompanying a population still living with fear and uncertainty. The earthquake that struck Flores on 15 August, with a magnitude of 7.7, caused casualties and extensive damage in several areas of the island.
The Caritas Indonesia network and the local dioceses have launched a coordinated relief effort to assist the affected population.

In Larantuka, the damage was relatively limited, but the situation remains precarious, also because the earthquake occurred in an area already affected by volcanic activity. “It is a disaster that came after a volcanic eruption in Larantuka two years ago,” the Bishop explains. “Some of the faithful had already been forced to flee to another place and are internally displaced. The volcano still poses a threat.”
The Church is seeking to accompany these internally displaced people through Caritas. “I am concerned about my people who are living in precarious conditions in this region,” Monteiro says. “In Flores, there is still fear after the earthquake; people are shaken.” Yet alongside the fear, the Bishop also sees an encouraging response of solidarity. “This earthquake has generated a great deal of solidarity. I have to say that the entire Indonesian people, through the civil authorities and Caritas, are helping us.”
The response, he adds, is not limited to his diocese. The Bishops of Flores are in contact with one another to coordinate assistance and support each other. “We are very united, and this strengthens us,” he says. This communion was experienced in a particularly tangible way in the wake of the tragedy at St Peter’s Interdiocesan Major Seminary in Maumere, which suffered serious damage and partial collapses. A young seminarian from the Diocese of Labuan Bajo died in hospital from injuries sustained in the earthquake. “We experienced this tragedy together and showed our closeness to one another,” Monteiro recounts. “We are united in prayer and in sharing material resources, so that together we can find solutions.” The local Church also feels “the closeness and support” of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference.

Amid this emergency, the diocese is characterized by a strong Catholic presence and a remarkable flourishing of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. According to figures provided by the Bishop, Larantuka has around 250,000 Catholics, 55 parishes and approximately 150 priests, both diocesan and religious. The figures confirm the significant Catholic presence in the area.
“Our Church has many priests, from diocesan priests to priests belonging to religious congregations. This means that ours is a diocese blessed by the Lord with many vocations,” Monteiro observes. Formation for future priests also takes place at the interdiocesan seminary, a long-established institution on the island. “We are in the ‘Catholic heart of Indonesia’, and vocations are flourishing – we can use that word here in Flores – to nourish the Church not only in Indonesia, but throughout the world.”
It is a missionary vocation that reaches beyond the island’s borders. “From this country, from this region, many people go out into the world for evangelization,” he stresses. According to the Bishop, around a thousand priests and religious women originally from Flores are currently serving in missions and communities around the world, more than 300 of them from the Diocese of Larantuka alone. “These vocations are a special gift from God, but they are not ‘only for us’: they are a gift for the universal Church, for all the Churches of the world, wherever there is a need.”

Monteiro also interprets this history through the very name of the island. In the 16th century, he recalls, Portuguese navigators named the island Flores after being struck by its abundant floral vegetation. Dominican missionaries from Portugal arrived with them. “They sowed the Gospel, and the garden of Flores began to blossom, with the flowers of faith, hope and charity.”
That missionary history lives on today in a faith deeply rooted in the local culture. In Larantuka, popular devotion still bears traces of the presence of the Portuguese missionaries, particularly during the rites of Holy Week. “The people have a strong faith and express it through popular devotion and fraternal charity,” the Bishop says. Among the most deeply cherished traditions, handed down through the centuries, are pilgrimages and prayer at the Chapel of Tuan Ana, dedicated to the Passion of Christ, and at the Chapel of the Mother of God.
The transmission of the faith also takes place through ongoing catechesis. “The principal seasons of the liturgical year, Advent and Lent, are devoted to catechesis. Every year our catechists prepare a program with the priest and hold periods of catechesis in the villages and parishes.” Particular attention is given to young people. “We seek to encourage young people to read the Bible and to put the Gospel into practice in their daily lives. Many young people come to church, and the present of our community is built upon them, upon their faith and their charity. Young people are our hope.”

The Catholic Church carries out its mission within a society where, unlike in many other parts of Indonesia, Catholics constitute the majority. “More than 90% of the people are Catholic,” Monteiro says, noting that Muslims account for a small minority in the Larantuka area, around 2%.
For the Bishop, however, this situation does not alter the necessity or the primary path of dialogue: “Whether one is a minority or a majority, the approach is always dialogue, in order to build coexistence and fraternity.”
In Larantuka, he explains, interreligious dialogue does not consist in debating theological issues, but is rather a way of living together. “Dialogue does not mean so much ‘talking about God’, but living together, working together and building a harmonious society.” This is what he describes as a “dialogue of life, capable of generating hope even when reality is marked by difficulties.”
“We are very united within the ecclesial community, and we are building bridges of cooperation and unity in society,” the Bishop reiterates. In the island’s current situation, whilst fear and uncertainty are affecting people’s lives, faith does not heal the wounds, but encourages us not to face them alone.

AFRICA/CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - Appointment of the new Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 13:17:56 +0200

Vatican City – Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization , appointed His Exc. Msgr. Juan José Aguirre Muñoz, M.C.C.J., as Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Central African Republic on August 10, 2026, for a five-year term .
The second Bishop of Bangassou, 72, , with 46 years of priestly ministry and 28 years as a Bishop , was appointed Coadjutor Bishop in 1997 and received episcopal ordination in 1998. He succeeded to the See in 2000.
On 24 June 2026, the Holy Father accepted his resignation from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Bangassou . He was succeeded by His Excellency Bishop Aurelio Gazzera, O.C.D., previously Coadjutor Bishop of the same See.

AFRICA/ZAMBIA - African Bishops express concern over the arrest of Archbishop Banda

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:50:42 +0200

Lusaka – “On behalf of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar , we wish to express our fraternal solidarity and prayerful closeness to the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops , and in a particular way to His Grace Dr. Alick Banda, Archbishop of Lusaka, at this challenging moment in the life of the Church in Zambia.”
With these words, the African Bishops gathered within SECAM expressed their solidarity with their brother Bishops in Zambia and, in particular, with Archbishop Alick Banda of Lusaka, who was arrested at the end of September.
“We have learned with great concern of the recent proceedings involving Archbishop Banda, following his appearance before the Drug Enforcement Commission of Zambia on 28 September 2026. in connection with ongoing investigations,” the statement, issued on 1 October, continues.
On 28 September, Archbishop Banda was arrested and charged by the Drug Enforcement Commission of Zambia with possession of a Toyota Hilux allegedly obtained unlawfully. According to the DEC, which is also responsible for investigating money laundering and financial crimes, the Toyota Hilux was “reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained from the Zambia Revenue Authority.”
Archbishop Banda pleaded not guilty before a Lusaka court and was released on bail of 80,000 kwacha , after spending one night in custody.
News of their Archbishop’s arrest prompted the faithful to gather in prayer at the Cathedral in Lusaka.
Archbishop Banda’s arrest has been linked to the detention of several opposition figures following the 13 August elections, including leading opposition candidate Brian Mundubile. Eleven people were arrested the day after the vote during a security forces raid on Mundubile’s residence. During the operation, former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya was shot and killed .
The Bishops of Zambia convened an extraordinary plenary session of the ZCCB on September 29, under the presidency of Archbishop Ignatius Chama of Kasama. In their final statement, the Bishops quoted Scripture: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” , warning that the country’s democratic pillars are collapsing under the weight of political polarization, intimidation and arbitrary arrests.
The Bishops linked the growing tensions to the disputed general elections of 13 August, which, in their view, have undermined public confidence in the country’s democratic institutions. “Public confidence in elections is essential to the legitimacy and stability of democratic institutions,” they stated.
The statement lists a number of concerns, including the instrumentalization of tribal identities, restrictions on the space for free expression, harassment of opposition parties and the weakening of the rule of law.

ASIA/KAZAKHSTAN - Care as a language of peace: religions in dialogue on the dignity of vulnerable children

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:31:11 +0200

Astana – Caring for children with incurable illnesses, safeguarding their dignity, and exploring the contribution religions can make in responding to human vulnerability are at the heart of the Second Joint Colloquium between the Kazakhstan’s International Center for Interfaith and Interreligious Dialogue and the Holy See’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, taking place at the National Museum of Astana on 2 and 3 October. The Holy See delegation to the Colloquium is being led by Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, who will meet with Erlan Karin, Vice-President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
Entitled “Promoting Health, Promoting Peace: A Shared Commitment to Caring for Vulnerable Children,” the meeting brings together institutional representatives, religious leaders and communities, paediatricians, experts in bioethics and theology, scholars and specialists. According to the official program, discussions focus on three main areas: the ethical foundations of caring for children and interreligious solidarity; the protection of children’s rights and dignity in the context of illness; and the development of medical, scientific and institutional cooperation. Particular attention will also be given to the opportunities and ethical issues surrounding the use of artificial intelligence in paediatrics.

At the heart of the two-day dialogue lies a fundamental moral question: how can a child with an incurable illness be guaranteed not only appropriate medical care, but also full respect for his or her human dignity and due attention to psychological, social, family and spiritual needs?
A child’s dignity is not diminished by illness, nor does it depend on the possibility of a complete recovery. This is also the principle guiding discussions on the “Charter of the Rights of the Child with an Incurable Illness,” drawn up by the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital. The document places the child first and foremost as a person, rather than simply as a patient or clinical case, and recalls the child’s right to be accompanied and cared for even when medicine can no longer provide a cure. The Bambino Gesù Charter, drawn up in 2018, has become part of the broader international debate on the rights of children with incurable illnesses and on paediatric palliative care.

From this perspective, the duty to care does not cease when the possibility of curative treatment comes to an end. On the contrary, it includes the alleviation of suffering, accompanying the child and the family, providing psychological support and, when requested, attending also to the spiritual dimension.
The dialogue in Astana therefore goes beyond strictly medical issues. It addresses the value of human life, the meaning of care and society’s responsibility towards those who are the most vulnerable. It is precisely here that interreligious dialogue takes on a concrete dimension: different religious traditions, while starting from distinct theological perspectives, can come together in defending the dignity and rights of children and in building a culture of care.
A second area of discussion concerns artificial intelligence. New technologies are providing increasingly advanced tools for diagnosis, data analysis and support for clinical decision-making. At the same time, their development raises questions concerning responsibility, the protection of personal data, equity in access to healthcare and the role of physicians. The fundamental challenge is to ensure that patients are not reduced to a collection of data: technology can assist care, but it cannot replace the human relationship that is an essential part of caring.

For Kazakhstan, the protection of vulnerable children forms part of a broader path of cooperation with the Holy See in the field of interreligious dialogue. The country has made the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, established in Astana in 2003, one of the main international platforms for dialogue among representatives of different religious traditions.
Pope Francis personally attended the Seventh Congress in September 2022, highlighting the role of religions in building peace and defending human dignity.
This process has led to more structured cooperation with the Holy See. The First Joint Colloquium between the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the Kazakhstan’s International Center for Interfaith and Interreligious Dialogue was held in Rome in April 2024. The issue of vulnerable children has become one of the concrete areas of this cooperation. In 2025, during the Eighth Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital proposed to religious and political authorities the development of a “culture of care,” beginning with the most vulnerable children, and signed a letter of intent with the University Medical Center of the Kazakh capital.
The Second Colloquium marks a further step forward: from dialogue on the major questions surrounding peace to cooperation that seeks to address a very concrete question—how a society can care for its most vulnerable members.
From this perspective, health and care become closely connected with peace. Protecting a sick child means recognizing that no person loses their value when they become vulnerable, dependent on others or unable to recover. It also means calling upon institutions, healthcare professionals, families, civil society and religious communities to contribute, each according to their respective responsibilities, to a shared culture of care, placing dialogue at the service of the person and of peace.

VATICAN - New “Donum Missionis” Foundation brings the missionary colleges in Rome under one institution

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 17:51:25 +0200

Vatican City – From 1 November 2026, the “Domus Missionalis” and “Domus Urbaniana” Foundations will cease to exist as separate entities and will be brought together under a single institution, the “Donum Missionis” Foundation in a Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and published today, October 1, by the Holy See Press Office, together with the new Statutes. During an Audience on July 28 2026, Pope Leo XIV approved the Statutes, “in consideration of the need to harmonize the canonical status of the ‘Domus Missionalis’ and ‘Domus Urbaniana’ Foundations with the current juridical framework.”

Father Stefano Fossi, of the Italian Province of the Society of Jesus, has been appointed Director of the newly established Foundation. He has previously held pastoral and administrative positions in the Diocese of Rieti.
Father Alessandro Brandi, a priest of the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie and Director of the International Centre for Missionary Formation , has been appointed Deputy Director of the Foundation. Until now, he also served as an Official of the Pontifical Society of St Peter the Apostle .

The two Foundations now being brought together under “Donum Missionis” were established on the same day, May 20, 2005, at the initiative of Pope Benedict XVI, as instrumental entities of what was then the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. According to the official Vatican website of the Pontifical Domus Missionalis Foundation, its purpose was “to provide care and accompaniment for seminarians and priests, men and women religious who come to Rome from the Churches of Africa, Asia, America and Oceania during their university formation.”

Each year, the website states, “more than 600 priests are guided and accompanied by Domus Missionalis” during their studies at the pontifical universities. L’Osservatore Romano recalled in 2021 that Domus Missionalis “provides care for” the Colleges of St. Peter the Apostle, St. Paul the Apostle, Mater Ecclesiae and St. Joseph, while the Domus Urbaniana Foundation, an “autonomous Foundation with canonical and civil legal personality” based in the Vatican, was associated with the Pontifical Urban College.

What changes

The new institution has not emerged from nowhere. The Preamble to the Statutes traces the process that led to its establishment: the reform of the Roman Curia through the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium ; the motu proprio of 5 December 2022 on the instrumental legal entities of the Curia; and the Decree of 1 August 2022, through which Pope Francis entrusted the Pro-Prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization with full legal representation of the administrations entrusted to him.
The merger, approved by the Administrative Congress of the Section following a proposal by Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Pro-Prefect, had been approved by Leo XIV during an Audience on 13 June 2025, when he ordered “the establishment of a single Institution, to be called ‘Donum Missionis’.”

The measure involves an administrative and financial merger: a single instrumental entity of the Dicastery, with its own governing bodies and subject to the Holy See’s economic oversight mechanisms, in line with the reform of the Roman Curia. “Donum Missionis” has its legal headquarters in the Vatican, in Via del Pellegrino, and its operational headquarters in the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide. The Pro-Prefect is, by right, its legal representative; the Secretary of the Section serves as its President, while the Adjunct Secretary for Administration serves as Vice-President.
The Foundation’s initial endowment is one million euros. Its funding comes primarily from the annual contribution of the Pontifical Mission Societies, supplemented by contributions from the Dicastery, income from its assets and revenues from accommodation provided by CIAM.

The Foundation is entrusted with “the care, preservation and ordinary and extraordinary maintenance” of the properties belonging to six institutions: the Pontifical Urban College of Propaganda Fide; the Colleges of St. Peter the Apostle, St. Paul the Apostle, St. Joseph and Mater Ecclesiae; and the International Centre for Missionary Formation .
The Colleges, the Statutes specify, are intended to provide “hospitality to candidates for the priesthood, clerics, women and men religious who are sent to Rome from mission territories for an appropriate period of initial or ongoing formation, and to attend university courses and/or advanced training programs, thereby supporting their academic and spiritual formation, which is entrusted in particular to the professors and superiors of the Colleges.”
The Statutes establish specific provisions for CIAM. The Centre hosts the ongoing missionary formation programs of the Pontifical Mission Societies and also provides accommodation to pilgrims, prayer groups, and laypeople. Relations with third parties, however, remain administered by the Dicastery, which owns the property.

Four centuries of missionary colleges

The history of these institutions was presented by Archbishop Samuele Sangalli, Adjunct Secretary for Administration of the missionary Dicastery, in an address delivered on 8 September during the formation course for new Bishops.
“Since the earliest years of its foundation in 1627, the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, of which our Dicastery is the successor, has been committed to ensuring the presence in Rome of institutions providing formation for ecclesial and religious personnel from territories of first evangelization,” he explained.
The first was the Urban College, which will celebrate its fourth centenary in 2027. “Established as a seminary,” the Archbishop recalled, “it still welcomes around 170 seminarians each year from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Apostolic Vicariates of Latin America.”
During the twentieth century, he continued, “two priestly Colleges were added – the College of St. Peter in 1946 and the College of St. Paul in 1965 – for the formation of diocesan priests from the same regions.” Each accommodates between 150 and 200 priests every year.

“In 1979, the Mater Ecclesiae College was established for the corresponding formation of young women religious,” he said. Today, around 130 women religious attend the College, located in Castel Gandolfo.
The College of St. Joseph was also established in 1979 and has been located on the Janiculum since 2006. It provides courses for rectors and formators of “425 minor seminaries, 135 propaedeutic seminaries and 270 major seminaries” in mission territories.
Alongside the Colleges, the Pontifical Urbaniana University has around 1,130 students and 97 affiliated institutes in 40 countries.
For Archbishop Sangalli, these institutions “carry out an irreplaceable service”: they ensure “formation in missionary spirit among the diocesan clergy of our territories”, prepare formators for seminaries and religious houses, and offer “that unique experience of the Catholicity and universality of the Church which can be experienced only in Rome, sub Petro Sedem.”
He therefore appealed to the new Bishops: “We need the support of all the local Churches, so that these Colleges may continue to provide the service for which they were established.” With “Donum Missionis” – the “gift of mission” – that service will now have a single juridical home.

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Refugee & Migrant Education Emergency. Conference at the Pontifical Urbaniana University

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:33:31 +0200

Rome – The international conference “Refugee & Migrant Education: Voices in Action: Transformative Collaboration and Educational Solidarity with Refugees & Migrants” opened on September 30 at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

Promoted by the Refugee & Migrant Education Network , the conference concludes tomorrow, October 2. It brings together academics, representatives of United Nations agencies, international organizations, scholars and refugee students, civil society representatives and Church-based organizations, with the aim of identifying shared strategies to expand access to education and promote the inclusion of people forced to leave their Countries.

The conference is taking place at a time when, as the presentation of the initiative recalls, millions of people remain displaced by war, poverty, violence and climate change. Families are forced to leave their homes, young people’s education is interrupted, and many communities struggle to guarantee even basic educational opportunities. “Across continents, millions remain displaced by war, poverty, violence, and climate change. Families are uprooted, young people’s education is interrupted,” the Network’s presentation reads.

RMEN was founded in 2018 to connect universities, non-governmental organizations, international agencies and people working in the education of refugees, migrants and displaced persons. The network is based on the conviction that the work of individual actors can be strengthened through collaboration and mutual support. “Education is a journey together and its goals are best achieved through mutual collaboration,” the conference presentation states.

In his welcome message, Anthony J. Cernera, President and founder of the Network, identified the development of concrete proposals and the strengthening of ties among participants as key objectives of the gathering: “Our primary objective for this conference is to develop actionable recommendations that will advance refugee and migrant education while also promoting deeper collaboration between participants.”
The discussion addresses not only education for people on the move, but also education on migration and human mobility.

Welcoming participants on behalf of the University and its Rector, Prof. Vincenzo Buonomo, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Prof. Pietro Angelo Muroni, expressed the University’s pleasure at hosting the Network once again.

“We are truly honoured to have you here,” the Dean said, thanking Prof. Cernera and the organizers of the conference.

The Faculty of Theology has in recent years worked to become an integral part of the “choir” of voices in action on migration. Its programs include a Specialization and PhD in Intercultural Pastoral Theology and Theology of Human Mobility, with students from more than 100 countries and 108 affiliated institutes around the world. The programs aim to train experts and practitioners capable of dialogue, comparison, design and transmission, through a multi-, inter- and intra-disciplinary methodology with a strong intercultural dimension.

“The relationship with your institution is not only appreciated, but desired. I hope that your presence here will mark a further concrete step towards a collaboration that is set to continue over time,” the Dean added.

In his opening address, Professor Aldo Skoda of the Scalabrini International Migration Institute and the Pontifical Urbaniana University recalled the Network’s tenth anniversary, highlighting its growth as a space for collaboration among institutions, educators, researchers and communities from different Countries. He also urged not to reduce migration to a crisis or a problem to be managed: every movement of people carries with it a story, aspirations, cultures and knowledge. From this perspective, education is not merely a service, but a means of restoring dignity, strengthening people’s capacity to make choices and creating opportunities. “Education is not simply a service to be provided, but a powerful means of restoring dignity, strengthening agency, creating opportunities,” he said.
The right to education, however, remains far from being fully guaranteed for millions of refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and victims of trafficking. Skoda’s address highlighted the obstacles that may arise at different stages of the journey: from flight and transit to arrival and integration into host communities. Limited resources, interruptions to schooling, language barriers, legal and administrative difficulties, and inequalities in access to technology can prevent young people from continuing their education.
The program addresses these challenges through plenary sessions, round tables and working groups. Topics under discussion include access to higher education and educational continuity in different contexts, the impact of funding cuts and gaps in research. One session focuses on models of cooperation between universities and organizations, including the Mother Cabrini Institute of Immigration, the University of Sanctuary at the University of Exeter, Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Jesuit Refugee Service, Jesuit Worldwide Learning and Refugee Education UK.

The opening day, September 30, featured a workshop on expanding refugees’ access to higher education, presentations on collaboration and solidarity with refugees and migrants, and testimonies from resettled refugee students and young people living in emergency situations. Working groups were also launched in four areas: refugee and migrant education; education on refugee and migration issues; advocacy and accompaniment; and research.
Today, October 1, the conference will focus on the educational continuity across different contexts and levels of education, models of collaboration among institutions, and educational practices based on ethical principles. In the afternoon, there will be parallel sessions on refugee leadership, access to and retention in higher education, pedagogies of solidarity, the resilience of displaced young people, and collaboration between institutions and communities. Tomorrow, October 2, a session will examine the opportunities and challenges posed by artificial intelligence in refugee and migrant education, led by Father Maurice Emelu of John Carroll University. The conference will conclude with the presentation of recommendations developed by the working groups and an appeal for joint action.

ASIA/PAKISTAN - In Mariamabad, the memory of Capuchin missionary Father Frank Van Butsele, who gave his life for the Gospel

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 11:57:46 +0200

Lahore – As the feast of St. Francis of Assisi approaches, during the eighth centenary of his death , the Catholic community of Mariamabad village, in Pakistan’s Punjab Province, is looking back at its history and once again entrusts the journey of the mission to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the “City of Mary”, one of the most significant centres of Catholic presence in Pakistan, the memory of the Belgian Capuchin missionaries remains particularly alive in the story of Father Frank Van Butsele, the friar who gave his life to the people of Punjab and was murdered in the church in Mariamabad in 1953, at just 40 years of age, in the very place where he had carried out his ministry.

Mariamabad, now home to Pakistan’s National Marian Shrine, was established at the end of the nineteenth century through the work of Flemish Capuchins. In 1892, the Belgian Capuchin Bishop Emmanuel Van Den Bosch purchased some 150 acres of land to provide poor Christian families, who were subjected to discrimination, with a home and an opportunity for a new beginning. In January 1893, the first three Christian families moved there, accompanied by Franciscan missionaries, to the land that would later be called “Maryabad”, the “City of Mary”. Father Felix van de Putte, who arrived in 1896, promoted its agricultural, social and religious development and oversaw the construction of the church of Saint Mary and Saint Joseph, which was consecrated in 1898.

Father Frank Van Butsele, born in Ronse, Belgium, in 1913, is part of this long history. He joined the Capuchins in 1930 and was ordained a priest in 1937. He devoted some fifteen years to missionary work in the Indian subcontinent. He served in Amritsar and later in the newly established Pakistan after the "partition." Capuchin historical sources remember him as a man of faith and charity, deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary, closely attached to the people and to his mission, and committed to catechesis, the formation of catechists and pastoral care of the communities. In Mariamabad , he assumed responsibility for the mission and dedicated himself to pastoral ministry, development, the spread of Marian devotion and the human and social advancement of Catholic families.

His name became particularly associated with the origins of the Marian pilgrimage tradition. In 1949, a few years before his death, Father Frank helped transform the church of Mariamabad into a centre of Marian devotion and launched the annual pilgrimage on 8 September, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That intuition has over time become one of the most significant expressions of the Catholic faith in Pakistan. Even today, the shrine attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year and also serves as a place of encounter, dialogue and prayer between Christians and Muslims .

Father Frank died on 2 November 1953, inside his church in Mariamabad. He was killed with a dagger by a man named Diwan Masih , amid a climate of profound instability, six years after the birth of Pakistan and in a region still marked by the deep divisions left by the 1947 Partition between India and Pakistan, which had brought mass migrations and violence among religious communities. He was killed in the church, in front of his parishioners, while he was praying.
His death did not bring the mission begun by the Franciscans to an end; rather, it strengthened its history.
The sacrifice of Father Frank, who was killed as an innocent man, has become part of the community’s memory as an integral part of the mission’s history. The presence of European missionaries became a source for the emergence of local vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, thus contributing to the growth of the local Church. The Capuchin mission sought to accompany the poor and marginalized through the proclamation of the Gospel, while also building communities, schools and social initiatives, and promoting the dignity of every person.

In Mariamabad, this legacy continues today before the statue of the Virgin Mary. The shrine, born from the mission of the Belgian Capuchins, has become a place where Christians and people of other faiths gather to entrust their concerns and hopes to Mary. It is here that the Church in Pakistan remembers Father Frank, who is buried in the cemetery in Mariamabad, on the eve of the feast of St. Francis: not only as a figure from the past, but as a gift from the Lord within a missionary history that continues to unfold. The seed planted by those missionaries continues to bear fruit in the Catholic community of Pakistan.
Today’s mission is entrusted to Mary, to whom Mariamabad has been consecrated since its beginnings. More than seventy years after Father Frank’s death, the “City of Mary” continues to cherish the memory of its missionaries while looking ahead with hope and blessing the lives of the faithful in the “Land of the Pure”.

ASIA/PAKISTAN - Franciscan family marks the 800th anniversary of the Transitus of St. Francis in a spirit of dialogue and peace

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 11:26:27 +0200

Islamabad – Franciscan fraternities in Pakistan are marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi , ahead of the liturgical feast of St Francis on October 4, renewing their commitment to live and proclaim the Gospel, according to the spirit of the saint, in the Pakistani nation.
On the occasion of the Transitus of St. Francis, in the Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, the local Catholic community gathered around the Franciscan family – friars, religious women and lay faithful – to commemorate the life, spirituality and legacy of St. Francis of Assisi in Pakistan.
The Franciscans serving in the diocese organized a jubilee celebration highlighting the theme of peace, including a symbolic release of white doves, representing reconciliation and the evangelical spirit embodied by St. Francis. A theatrical performance depicting the saint’s life and mission invited participants to reflect on his love for Christ and for the poor, as well as on his simple and humble lifestyle.

During the Eucharistic celebration held in Islamabad on September 29 as the central event of the jubilee program, Archbishop Arshad, commemorating the 800th anniversary of the death of the saint of Assisi, emphasized that “his life continues to inspire Christians through his radical commitment to the Gospel, simplicity, humility and love for God and creation.” “His extraordinary witness of faith, embracing poverty, simplicity, humility and total dedication to God, and his authentic and radical following of the Gospel, is a model and a source of inspiration for the baptized in Pakistan and throughout the world,” he said.
His legacy, the Archbishop stressed, is that “those who make themselves the least are those who receive the most in the eyes of God.” He encouraged the faithful to be disciples of Christ, who calls his followers to humility, service and selfless love.
“This message,” he observed, “is particularly meaningful for those of us called to serve others, in the Church and in society, so that the needs of the most vulnerable take priority over our own well-being and interests.”
For consecrated men and women in Pakistan in particular, he said, “the life of St. Francis remains a powerful reminder that the religious vocation is a call to follow Christ faithfully and that consecrated persons are to be authentic witnesses to the Gospel in the world.”
“The spirituality of St. Francis,” he continued, “also calls all believers to detach themselves from excessive concern for earthly possessions and to live in love of God, the poor, creation and their neighbour. His witness reminds Christians that the Gospel is not only to be proclaimed in words, but witnessed through one’s life.”
The gathering concluded with a time of sharing, fellowship and fraternal communion in the Franciscan spirit.

The Franciscan family in Pakistan numbers approximately 600 people in total, including religious friars, sisters belonging to various Franciscan congregations, and lay members of the Secular Franciscan Order. Their presence is concentrated mainly in two major geographical and ecclesiastical regions of the country: the Friars Minor have historically been concentrated primarily in Sindh Province and the Archdiocese of Karachi, while the Capuchin Friars work mainly in Punjab Province, a territory entrusted to their pastoral care as early as the late nineteenth century.
Several women’s religious congregations are active in the country and work closely with the local population . The Secular Franciscans and Franciscan Youth also represent a significant part of the Franciscan presence, with numerous local fraternities spread across the provinces of Punjab and Sindh.
The apostolate of the Franciscan family in Pakistan is carried out in three principal areas: peace and interreligious dialogue, through which Franciscans dedicate ongoing relations with the Muslim community in order to promote peaceful coexistence; service to the poor, given that a large proportion of Pakistani faithful belong to socially disadvantaged or marginalized communities; and social apostolate, through the management of numerous schools, clinics and hospitals accessible to the entire population, without ethnic or religious discrimination.

AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - Tigray, the Eparch of Adigrat raises alarm: “We are completely isolated; humanitarian access is urgently needed”

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 10:54:56 +0200

Adigrat – “It is extremely urgent to facilitate humanitarian access, dialogue for peace and every form of dialogue. We are completely isolated, communications are blocked, and we have no contact with anyone.” This is the message sent to Fides by the Eparch of Adigrat, Tesfaselassie Medhin, in a brief message sent with the support of UNICEF, which continues to assist the Church and, where possible, to maintain a minimum connection with the outside world.

“All communications are blocked; our Church, our missions, religious, the local clergy, we are in our places, as usual,” the Eparch said. “We will accompany and help the people with our presence, through which we carry out the Church’s mission of incarnation.”

Medhin describes a situation of mounting difficulty: “Banks are also closed. We do not know for sure how our seminaries and schools will continue operating, but it is our intention to continue. We have no idea how we will manage provisions. Only God knows; we rely on Divine Providence.”

Meanwhile, the situation in Ethiopia’s northern region continues to deteriorate . At the end of yesterday’s General Audience, Wednesday, September 30, Pope Leo XIV expressed his “deep concern” over the renewed outbreak of hostilities in Tigray and appealed to all parties.

“I extend my heartfelt plea to all parties to choose the path of dialogue,” the Pope said. “Armed conflict never solves problems but only worsens them, leaving in its wake a trail of death, destruction, and resentment. Only honest engagement can lay the foundations for lasting peace.” Leo XIV also expressed the hope “that the international community will offer its generous and timely contribution, to ensuring that all humanitarian aid be provided to those in need.”

“Wecare” missionary experiences/II - When mission becomes a journey of faith

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 14:15:26 +0200

by Laura Gómez Ruiz

Rome – A missionary experience can begin with a concrete gesture: building something, offering help, sharing daily life with a community. But the questions that arise during that time can open up other paths. Who am I? What can embrace the desire I carry in my heart? What can truly make me happy?

For young people who take part in Wecare experiences, service is accompanied by a process of reflection designed precisely to make room for these questions.

As recounted in the first part of this story , some encounters with others can change the way we look at our own lives. There are also gestures of closeness and words that can accompany the questions that emerge during the journey.

The roots of Wecare go back to the first volunteer experiences launched in Peru in 2005, while the association in its current form was established in 2023, bringing together the various initiatives that had developed over the years. “We do not want it to be simply a volunteering experience,” explains Fernando Lozada Baldoceda, who initiated the overseas volunteer experiences and is now director of Wecare.

Preparing the ground

Alongside concrete work, the organization offers a journey of reflection inspired by Gospel values, without presenting them explicitly as such. For this reason, it describes the program as a path of “pre-evangelization.”
The initiative begins with questions rooted in the heart of every person about identity, suffering, love, friendship, happiness, mission and vocation. “These are questions that can also lead people to reflect on the supernatural,” Fernando observes. The aim, therefore, is not to provide ready-made answers, but to create a space in which each young person can engage with what he or she is experiencing and with the questions that run through their lives.
The program alternates between moments of communal reflection and meetings in small groups. “They are conferences,” Fernando explains, “but then the young people have the opportunity to share and discuss their experiences with one another.” The reflection, moreover, does not remain confined to what happened during the trip: the questions also touch on one’s personal history, choices, relationships and way of looking at life.
A travel diary is also part of the journey. Each theme is accompanied by texts, including works from Christian literature, and by questions that help turn reading into personal reflection. The material is linked to what the young people are experiencing: “The idea is that the theme should not remain disconnected from the experience,” Fernando explains.

A discreet accompaniment

This is where the presence of a priest takes on a particular role. Father Gonzalo Len Alvarez, Vice-Rector of the Church of San Paolo alla Regola in Rome, accompanies the young people during their missionary experiences and shares with them the journey, daily life and moments of reflection. For him, one of the fundamental elements of the program is to enable young people to “encounter Christ through two fundamental experiences: an encounter with others and an encounter with oneself.”
The first, Father Gonzalo explains, arises from drawing close to people and communities whose circumstances are different from one’s own. Young people encounter stories that are not part of their everyday lives and “learn to live service, selflessness, charity and the gift of self,” the priest explains.
From this can emerge the second encounter: that of the young person with himself or herself. Father Gonzalo explains that “there is also a genuine interior journey that invites each person to confront the great questions of life: Who am I? What truly makes me happy? Why is there suffering? What does to love mean?” Not all young people follow the same path or reach the same conclusions. Each responds according to his or her own story and in freedom.
For some, Father Gonzalo says, the experience can mean “rediscovering a faith that had drifted away from their lives; for others, finding light when faced with an important decision, or rediscovering the beauty of prayer and Christian life.” In some cases, and there are many such instances, the encounter with Christ takes on a new meaning: “Christ is not simply a religious proposal, but the deepest answer to the desires of the human heart.”
In this journey, the presence of a priest who shares the missionary experience with the young people takes on particular significance. Accompaniment does not come only afterwards, to interpret what has been experienced, but is part of the journey from within. The priest takes part in the concrete experience and can accompany the questions that arise from it. The spiritual dimension, therefore, does not appear as an element added at the end of a volunteer project; rather, it is woven into the encounter with people, the work carried out and the way each young person looks at his or her own life.

No ready-made answers

For Lozada Baldoceda, this is also why the program does not present itself simply as a formative activity. The experience seeks to connect what young people see outside themselves with what they carry within. The texts and questions in the diary, group conversations and experience of service are all part of a single journey. The aim is not to provide ready-made answers. The questions can open up a process that each person will follow differently and that may continue even after returning home.

Father Gonzalo concludes by explaining that “it is precisely in these small and great changes that I discover the missionary spirit of the Church: young people who, after experiencing the love of Christ and allowing themselves to be transformed by the Gospel, naturally feel the desire to share with others what they themselves have received.” This is not an obligation to be added at the end of the experience, but the consequence of an encounter that has left its mark: those who have received something good naturally desire to share it.

The story of Wecare itself offers an example of how service can continue by taking different forms.
During the pandemic, when planned trips had to be suspended, some young people who had taken part in previous experiences looked for another way to help. This led to Sosteniamoci, a project that began by collecting food and preparing packages for families in need in Rome and, subsequently, in Milan. Over time, this experience and the international initiatives came together in the organization that is now Wecare.

Twenty years after those first experiences in Peru, the challenge remains the same: to ensure that mission does not become merely doing something for someone, but becomes an encounter capable of transforming the way we see. Concrete help matters. But what also matters is what happens when a young person asks what it means for him or her to have met that person, witnessed that reality and shared time with them.
From an encounter with others to an encounter with oneself; and from there, for some, to an encounter with Christ. From what one has received, finally, the desire to go out once again to meet others may arise.

Link correlati :Wecare website

AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - Tensions return to Tigray: fears of a new civil war

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:50:47 +0200

Mekelle – Fears of a new escalation in Ethiopia are growing following the resumption of fighting in the north of the country and an offensive by Tigrayan fighters in the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara. Concern is also mounting over the formation of a new alliance of armed groups that has declared its intention to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

On 23 September, Tigrayan fighters took control of Mekelle’s main airport and clashed with federal forces in the Afar and Amhara regions. In the previous days, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front , the political party and paramilitary organization that governed the region, had joined a new coalition of seven rebel groups formed with the stated aim of ousting the government in Addis Ababa.

Federal forces responded with drone strikes and ground operations. Reported incidents have also included an attack on a Catholic Relief Services convoy carrying food aid.
The humanitarian situation in Tigray remains particularly critical. The region has been under conditions of isolation for months, with the federal government restricting the flow of fuel and medical supplies and blocking the salaries of public-sector employees. Possible further disruptions to electricity supplies and communications are also feared.

Local sources have also reported serious damage to public infrastructure caused by the fighting, affecting hospitals, schools and religious institutions.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had managed to evacuate around 160 people from Tigray, including Ethiopian Federal Police officers, Ethiopian Airlines employees and African Union observers. Observers are concerned not only about the people of Tigray, but more broadly about the safety of civilians throughout northern Ethiopia.

On 25 September, seven armed groups from different parts of the country, including the TPLF, announced the formation of the Ethiopian People’s Forces Alliance for Survival, declaring the removal of the Addis Ababa government as their objective.

Around the same time, the TPLF had seized control of three airports from the federal police. Ethiopian Airlines subsequently announced the suspension of flights to Tigray “due to the current situation”. The following day, flights to the historic city of Lalibela were also suspended because of fighting in the surrounding areas. In Tigray, meanwhile, people have begun stockpiling food and cash amid fears of a further deterioration in the situation.

The TPLF governed Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018, when it was ousted following Abiy Ahmed’s rise to power. The subsequent breakdown between the federal government and the authorities in Tigray led to the civil war fought from 2020 to 2022.

The resumption of clashes are once again putting pressure on the Pretoria Agreement, or Cessation of Hostilities Agreement , signed on 2 November 2022 under the mediation of the African Union. The agreement established a cessation of hostilities between the Ethiopian federal government and the TPLF, bringing two years of war to an end.

In response to the new escalation, on 22 September the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, urged all parties to exercise “the utmost restraint” and resume direct talks.

During the 2020–2022 conflict, Tigray remained largely cut off from the rest of the world. Communications were disrupted and access to food, cash and medicines was severely restricted, pushing hundreds of thousands of people into famine-like conditions. The new escalation is therefore rekindling fears of a humanitarian crisis and a broader conflict in northern Ethiopia.

AFRICA/BENIN - Families forming missionary seminarians: small, concrete steps to overcome conflict and build peace

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:37:48 +0200

Calavi – On Thursday, 1 October, the international year of spirituality for 42 seminarians of the Society of African Missions will begin at the Brésillac Centre in Abomey-Calavi, in the Archdiocese of Cotonou, Benin. They come from 12 countries in Africa and Asia, are between 20 and 30 years old, and have already completed the philosophical studies required of those preparing for missionary priesthood.

“Accompanied by a team of five formators, they will spend nine months in an experience of discernment, through periods of reflection and interiority, listening to the Word and prayer, as they prepare to make a decision about their future: whether to continue their vocation as members of the SMA or to discern another form of life and service.”

The testimony comes from Father Antonio Porcellato, who, after six years as Superior General of the SMA, has received a new assignment from his successor, Father François du Penhoat, who appointed him as a formator for a three-year term, renewable for another term.

“I continue to serve in the field of the initial formation of seminarians, an area in which I already worked from 1989 to 2001: six years in Genoa, one year here in Calavi and five years in Ibadan, Nigeria,” the missionary explains. Father Porcellato himself had suggested taking on an assignment in formation. “I am convinced that discernment and initial formation are among the most urgent priorities for the SMA today, which is experiencing a flourishing of vocations in Africa, more moderate growth in Asia, and an almost complete absence of vocations in Europe and America.”

“This year too, around 30 Beninese families have played an active role in the missionary formation of these young men by welcoming, free of charge, into their homes throughout the month of September the seminarians who need to improve their knowledge of French before the beginning of the annual program,” the missionary continues.

Every morning, the seminarians go to the Brésillac Centre, where they meet their classmates for French lessons and have lunch. In the afternoon, each returns to his host family, where he spends the evening and night before returning to the Centre the following morning. The families generally have school-age children, with whom the seminarian naturally interacts and converses, while also taking part in daily activities, meals and times of prayer.

“The group of families who offer their hospitality has existed for decades and has gradually organized itself, identifying each year those families willing to welcome a seminarian. In keeping with the African tradition of hospitality, these families see welcoming others as an opportunity for encounter and are happy to host young people from other countries. In this way, relationships are formed that often continue well beyond the nine months of the year of spirituality spent in Benin.”

This is the experience of Pascaline Assogba, a recently retired university lecturer, who speaks joyfully of the experience she has gained over 20 years of welcoming seminarians. Today, she has what amounts to an extended family in several African countries. “If I travel anywhere on the continent, practically every country has an SMA missionary whom I have hosted in my home and who has now become part of my family,” she says.

On Saturday, 26 September, a closing celebration was held, during which the 24 seminarians who had been hosted by local families expressed their gratitude for the experience.

Spending a month with a Beninese family, besides providing an opportunity to practise French, represents a significant stage in the formation of future missionaries. The young men are called to adapt to foods they have never encountered before, different rhythms of daily life – such as the custom of having dinner very late – and forms of devotion that may sometimes be new to them.

In essence, it is a practical school of proximity, interculturality and adaptability – essential skills for those called to live out their missionary vocation in contexts different from their own. The experience also helps foster mutual understanding and trust among people from different countries and continents, including those marked by tensions or conflict.

These are small, concrete steps towards overcoming divisions, building relationships and contributing to peace.

The Gospel bears fruit among mountainous ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:27:17 +0200

by Andrew Doan Thanh Phong

Păc Năm – Rather than waiting for the local people to come, the priest actively entered their lives. Initially, he went to the local market to converse, build up the relationship with the locals, and invite them to go to the church. Later on, he ventured into the villages for visiting individual families and making friends with them, sharing in daily conversations, and intentionally listening to them. He realized: "to proclaim the Gospel, firstly one must understand the local culture, empathize with people's circumstances, and walk alongside with them". Through those simple encounters, the people gradually grew fond of him, desiring to learn more and opening their hearts to the faith.

Through years of sowing the seeds of the Gospel, nearly 500 people from ethnic groups such as the H’Mông, Tày, Red Dao, and Sán Chí have received the Sacrament of Baptism and officially joined the Church. Particularly in the 2025–2026 period alone, more than 200 ethnic people were baptized.

Then the Catholic community was officially elevated to become a Catholic parish on October 4, 2025. This nascent parish was shepherded by the first pastor, Father Peter Nguyen Quang Doan from the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, is situated approximately 270 kilometers north of the Bac Ninh Bishop's House.

It is one of the most remote and challenging missionary territories within the Diocese of Bac Ninh that spreads a vast mountainous area of roughly 473,64 square kilometers, characterized by steep, hilly terrain and a landscape fragmented into numerous scattered villages in the Northern Vietnam.
The local population consists mainly of Hmong and Tay ethnic groups, alongside other ethnic communities of San Chi and Red Dao people, those who live mainly on agriculture, forestry, and livestock farming for their livelihoods.

In 2021, shortly after the priestly ordination, Father Peter Nguyen Quang Doan was assigned to be the assistant priest to the Bac Kan parish where he specialized in the mission of faith community, and was in charge of the Catholic locality of Păc Năm. At that time, this community did not have its own church, nor land for the pastoral center, therefore Father Peter Doan rented a small house with only one floor used as his private residence and also served as a place for celebrating daily Mass for a tiny congregation just within five families who were migrants from the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam

And by early 2026, amidst the joy of the entire Catholic community, the church of Păc Năm was inaugurated and used as a shared space for praying, learning the catechism, and celebrating the daily Holy Mass in substitution for a small one - floor house being used for many years. Furthermore, the church is also used to serve as a common place of cultural meeting for people of diverse ethnic groups. The brothers and sisters from ethnic minorities usually come here to share, to talk to each others, and here the indigenous cultures are respected, besides they themselves are accompanied in nourishing their young Catholic faith

And on August 25, 2026, Bishop Joseph Do Quang Khang of the Bac Ninh Diocese paid a pastoral visit to Păc Năm Parish. During the visit, he inaugurated the Saint Gerard Prayer Hall, presided over the blessing of a statue of the Virgin Mary depicted in Hmong ethnic attire, and celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism for 105 catechumens from various ethnic groups, including the Hmong, Tay, Red Dao, and San Chi.
The colorful ethnic dresses together with the bright and joyful faces filled with gentle, sincere smiles by the congregation attending Mass brought into a lovely atmosphere in a manner of solemnity and coziness in this mountainous mission area.
The image of Our Lady of Păc Năm in Her dress of Hmong ethnic people among the community is like a sign of closeness to the local culture and represents an image of the Mother who constantly accompanies, protects, and leads her children to Jesus.

In his homily, Bishop Joseph Do Quang Khang of the Bac Ninh Diocese could not hide his joyfulness as he witnessed these simple, humble souls joining the family of our Church today and said: “Today’s fruit is not merely the result of human effort; it is, above all, a gift of grace from God Who quietly sowed, nurtured, and made the seeds of faith grow up from so many hardships and trials”.

After receiving the Sacraments, the bishop also invited these 105 newly - Baptized individuals to keep their faith on nourishing and growing in order to become witnesses to the Gospel within their own families, villages, and local communities. Their very lives can become a tangible and vibrant proclamation of the Gospel in the environment where they live.

The Heaven opened, the Bishop’s Mission, and the Grace of being a little flock

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:11:31 +0200

by Cardinal Giorgio Marengo*

Rome – On September 29, Anthony James Corcoran, SJ, was ordained a bishop beneath the vaults of Rome’s Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, who delivered the homily, invited him to keep his eyes raised to the “greater things” promised by Christ, even amid the practical demands of shepherding Kyrgyzstan’s small Catholic community.

Apostolic administrator of the country since 2017, Bishop Corcoran now begins a new chapter in his service there.
With Cardinal Marengo’s permission, we publish his homily below.

“You will see Heaven opened…”

In Kyrgyzstan—as in Mongolia and the Countries of Central Asia—the sky stretches vast across the horizon. It seems almost more real than the very ground beneath one’s feet.

For these peoples, the eternal sky— Tengri —is the defining element of their ancestral spirituality and their relationship with God. Yet in Christ, that sky has opened and remains open, allowing us to contemplate God made man and to enter into a unique, personal relationship with Him. A new and definitive access to the Triune God is now available to all, in Christ Jesus.

This gift of salvation in Christ comes to us in a sacramental form—mediated, that is, by the One whom Christ has united to Himself as His Bride: the Holy Church. As the Second Vatican Council recalled, “The Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race” . The Holy Father Leo XIV recently revisited this truth, noting that the Church “does not perfectly identify with the Kingdom of God, but is its seed and beginning, for its fulfillment will be granted to humanity and the cosmos only at the end; […] it does not proclaim itself; on the contrary, everything within it must point to salvation in Christ.”

It is precisely for this reason that the Holy Father himself—as the successor of St. Peter and mindful of the good of the People of God in Kyrgyzstan—willed that their Ordinary be a bishop, thereby sharing in the charism of the Apostles, to whom the transmission of the faith across generations and throughout the world is inextricably linked. It is, therefore, a day of great celebration for the Church in Kyrgyzstan and for the entire Episcopal Conference of Central Asia, happily represented here by several of its members.

We are all gathered closely around you, dear Bishop-elect Anthony, contemplating how the Lord has guided you to this day. Indeed, the Gospel just proclaimed reminds us how deeply we are known and loved by Christ: "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."

Nathanael was a learned man—an allusion likely contained in the image of the fig tree, which was associated with the tree of the Law—and well-versed in religious practice. So too are you, dear Anthony, with your degrees in political science and theology and the vast apostolic experience gained over more than forty years of religious and missionary life. Yet, both you and each of us discover that Christ’s knowledge of us is far greater and precedes our own efforts.

You followed Him into the Society of Jesus, serving in the Russian Federation—particularly in Siberia—as provincial superior, rector of the minor seminary in Novosibirsk, parish priest, and vicar general of that same diocese; and subsequently in Kyrgyzstan, where you have served for several years. Today, a new stage in your following of Christ unfolds as you are joined to the college of the Apostles.

Being known and loved so deeply by the Lord opens us up to the knowledge and contemplation of “greater” things. A bishop is a disciple of the Lord with a penetrating gaze—one who chooses each day to lift his eyes toward “greater things” and thus leads the people entrusted to him toward the Lord.

Episcopal ministry—especially in its current form, amidst the complexities of a rapidly changing world and within the context of a still-young Church like that of Kyrgyzstan—involves dealing daily with highly practical pastoral matters: facilities, projects, and initiatives. We know, for instance, that you are overseeing the construction of the Bishkek cathedral, in addition to fostering good relations with the local government and many other endeavours.

Yet, the bishop attends to all these matters not as the CEO of a company, but as a man of God—fully conformed to Christ the Good Shepherd—who knows how to constantly lift his gaze and his heart to God.

The place chosen for this solemn liturgy powerfully reminds us of this fundamental truth: being conformed to Christ—like Saint Paul, who went so far as to lay down his life for Him, the supreme testimony of fidelity and self-sacrifice. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” .

Here, directly beneath the Altar of the Confession, the chains traditionally believed to have bound Saint Paul’s body during his Roman imprisonment are preserved for the veneration of the faithful. A great Apostle because he was a great contemplative, Paul was aware that he had been the recipient of a supernatural gift and that proclaiming the Gospel was primarily a spiritual matter—in the deepest sense of the term—with the Holy Spirit as the protagonist and the servant of the Gospel as a man transfigured by intimacy with Christ the Lord.

This holds true for you as well, today, dear Bishop-elect Anthony, as you begin your episcopal ministry. It will bear all the more fruit the more you are the first to receive within yourself the grace you are then called to pour out upon those around you.

Today we take part in a liturgy rich in evocative signs: beyond the texts of the Church’s prayer—received and handed down in an unbroken chain stretching back to the early days of the apostolic community—we encounter ancient and solemn gestures, such as the sacred anointing, the prostration of the elect, and the Book of the Gospels opened over his head; and then the episcopal insignia: the ring, the mitre, and the pastoral staff/crosier. Such is the beauty of the Sacred Liturgy, here preserved and fostered by the Benedictine community.

Everything speaks of a supernatural gift that unites you, dear Msgr. Anthony, with the College of Apostles and empowers you—through the grace bestowed upon you—to guide the holy people of God in faith, especially those in Kyrgyzstan. As Pope Francis reminded us Ordinaries of Central Asia during his apostolic visit to Kazakhstan in 2022:

“The Gospel says that being ‘little’, poor in spirit, is a blessing, a beatitude, and indeed the first of the beatitudes . For once we acknowledge our littleness, we can humbly hand ourselves over to the power of God, who teaches us not to base our ecclesial activity on our own abilities. This is a grace!” He then continued, describing the reality of our particular Churches: “I repeat: there is a hidden grace in being a small Church, a little flock, for instead of showing off our strengths, our numbers, our structures and other things that are humanly important, we can let ourselves be guided by the Lord and humbly draw close to others. Rich in nothing and poor in everything, let us walk with simplicity alongside our sisters and brothers, bringing the joy of the Gospel into the situations of everyday life. Like the leaven in the dough and like the smallest of seeds sown in the earth , may we immerse ourselves in the joyful and sorrowful events of the society in which we live, in order to serve it from within”.

Just a few hours earlier that day, dear Msgr. Anthony, you had met the Holy Father together with your fellow Jesuits; the photo of Pope Francis wearing the traditional hat of Kyrgyzstan had already made the rounds online... Indeed, our service in Central Asia fosters dialogue with society and enriches the Universal Church with the unique gifts of the peoples with whom we walk in faith.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us, then, allow ourselves to be drawn in and engaged by the mysteries we are celebrating—enveloped in the light and life of the Risen One—as our brother Anthony is joined to the Apostolic College. Let us pray for him, that the new phase of his life beginning today may always be under the protection of the Archangels and of the Queen of Apostles and Angels—the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mater Domini so dear to Saint Ignatius of Loyola. It is before this very image that the Society of Jesus may be said to have truly been born. We entrust you, your Excellency, to the Virgin Mary—of whom you will continue to be a devoted son, spreading her message of consolation and evangelical joy.

*Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar

ASIA/BANGLADESH - In the tribal area of Joypurhat, Bishop Gomes: “the new diocese between poverty and hope”

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:57:57 +0200

by Paolo Affatato

Joypurhat – “In poverty and weakness, there is God’s Providence; there is his Spirit accompanying us and bringing us gifts that surprise us. We experience this every day in the life of our community here in Joypurhat, in northwestern Bangladesh,” says Paul Gomes, the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Joypurhat, in an interview with Fides. The diocese was established by Pope Leo XIV on 25 March 2026, from territories of the dioceses of Rajshahi and Dinajpur, and is a suffragan diocese of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dhaka.
“For example,” he explains, “in this newly established diocese, the infrastructure still has to be built. At present, I live at Mary Help of Christians Parish in Khanjanpur, entrusted to the Salesians, which is serving as the cathedral. We need to plan and build an actual episcopal seat and a pastoral centre. There is a great deal of goodwill, but we need assistance, and we are already receiving a great deal of it,” says the Bishop, who took possession of the diocese last June.

The Catholic community of Joypurhat numbers around 25,000 faithful across 13 parishes. The vast majority belong to indigenous and tribal communities, including the Santal, Oraon, Mahali, Munda and Paharia peoples, who are among the communities living in the Joypurhat area, which has a population of around 7.7 million.
Bishop Gomes says that “the indigenous Catholic faithful in the area are among the most socially vulnerable groups in Bangladesh. They live in poverty, working mainly as day labourers in agriculture or as small-scale farmers. They face chronic inequality and discrimination in access to resources and land.” The indigenous communities in the area, he adds, “also face illiteracy, vulnerability to natural disasters, and migration to cities or abroad in search of work.”

In a geographical and social context marked by serious challenges, “the establishment of the Diocese of Joypurhat has generated great hope among everyone, not only among the faithful, but also within the local Muslim and Hindu communities,” he notes.
Indeed, “the Catholic Church in Bangladesh is recognized for its charitable works and the quality of its social services, which are offered without distinction of caste, culture or religion,” the Bishop recalls. Therefore, “in Joypurhat, our commitment focuses on two fundamental areas for the development of the region: establishing schools accessible to all and strengthening healthcare services, especially in peripheral villages.” The Church is already active in the region through educational and healthcare initiatives and human development programs, including microcredit and vocational training. In this way, Bishop Gomes notes, “the Catholic community promotes social inclusion and daily interreligious dialogue, helping to defuse the sectarian violence that at times affects society.”

The Bishop emphasizes another aspect: “In a diocese with only 15 priests and 18 religious women, catechists and lay people are irreplaceable pillars of the apostolate and of social service.” “In remote rural villages, the very survival of the faith depends on their daily work,” he acknowledges.
In northwestern Bangladesh, their role is that of “custodians of the faith in the peripheries,” since many indigenous villages in the diocese are located in isolated areas that priests can reach only a few times a year. “Lay catechists live permanently within these communities: they lead Sunday celebrations of the Word, keep the chapels made of mud and bamboo open and active, assist the sick, and prepare children and adults for the sacraments.”

“Catechists,” he observes, “are also protagonists in the process of inculturation of the faith. Since almost all of them are members of the local tribes, they overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, translate Sacred Scripture and hymns into tribal languages, and integrate traditional local symbols and customs into liturgical celebrations. In this way, people experience the Gospel as something close to their own identity and daily lives.”

On the socio-political front, lay people also serve as mediators and advocates for the indigenous populations of Joypurhat, who are often victims of illegal land expropriation, civil discrimination and abuses because of their social vulnerability and lack of literacy. “Catholic lay people, often trained through diocesan programs and Caritas Bangladesh, help village leaders defend their legal rights, protect ancestral property and report violations,” Bishop Gomes explains.

Given the significant pastoral needs of a young and emerging Church, lay people also cooperate actively in organizing pastoral meetings and encouraging vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, accompanying young people on their vocational journey, “so that they may be protagonists in the Church and in society.”
In the new diocese, therefore, evangelization and human promotion go hand in hand, the Bishop concludes, “within a young and poor Catholic community that trusts that, as the Psalm says, the Lord will complete his work.”