AsiaNews’ mission and your help
During Lent, we call on our readers to help AsiaNews serve the people and the persecuted Churches of Asia.
Rome (AsiaNews) – “Being a Christian is the same thing as being a missionary. Proclaiming the Gospel with one’s word, and even before, with one’s life, is the primary aim of the Christian community and of each of its members,” said Pope Francis in the Angelus on Sunday, 24 January. These words have accompanied me in the days that preceded Lent to brighten my life and that of the instrument to which the Lord and my superiors called me, namely AsiaNews.
‘Proclaiming the Gospel.’ I believe there is no better expression to define my work and that of my AsiaNews collaborators and correspondents. Every morning we get news, facts, and images that speak of how Christians in Asia experience their witness with love and truth, walking in the midst of persecution with perseverance and peace, able to forgive when they are touched by violence, and capable to rebuild where everything was destroyed.
By telling their story, we tell the world that resurrection is possible. The moderate success of our print and online editions show that there is strong interest in the facts of the resurrection in the world, since at present only destruction, empty drunkenness, and nihilism are the only experiences. Last year, 4 and a half million people visited the AsiaNews website to view some 30 million pages of news, images, life and lived faith.
‘With one’s word, and even before, with one’s life’. Last year, together with my collaborators, we participated in more than 400 conferences, more than one a day. We were asked about Christians in the Middle East, especially Mosul Christians, for whom we launched the ‘Adopt a Christian from Mosul’ campaign. We talked about them, we visited them in Kurdistan, we sent them aid, and we pushed Churches and politicians to take their destiny at heart. This work, which does not take into account timetables, is the way in which we try not to spare life to support those who are giving theirs for Christ and human dignity.
On other occasions, conferences focused on the Church and religion in China. We do not feel like sticking our heads in the sand before all the violations to religious freedom taking place in that great country, but the news, reports and help we send are mainly focused on supporting communities grow despite persecution: new baptisms, Jubilee celebrations, charitable work for migrant and abandoned children . . .
At the end of each conference, I often hear participants’ comments: "We would like to have their faith; we would like to have their joy; we would like to have the courage to rebuild."
Speaking about the martyrdom and witness of Christians in Mosul, Pope Francis called them the "dew" of our faith. Thus, we are discovering another aspect of AsiaNews’ mission, which is not only bringing the voice of the Churches and the peoples of Asia to the rest of the world that they may be known and to fraternise with them, but also taking them as a model for the mission of Christians in the West, where persecution is perhaps more subtle and refined, but needs the same courage.
Emphasising the fate of Christians is not out of denominational support. The point is that religious freedom for Christians in Asia leads to greater freedom of speech, trade, solidarity, an international community that cares for individuals and communities.
Dear friends, like at the start of every year, we ask for your contribution to support our work and that of dozens of correspondents and missionaries who offer you Asia’s life, pain, and hope every day. Supporting AsiaNews means supporting all of this. It means participating "with one’s word" and "with one’s life". Thank you.
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04/10/2023 18:52
