Meeting of Asian cardinals, a turning point in the Church’s mission, says Cardinal Toppo
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) – The meeting of Asian bishops in Vietnam is a huge turning point, not only for the Vietnamese but also for Catholic witness in the whole of Asia, said Card Telesphore Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, as he talked to AsiaNews on his way home from Ho Chi Minh City. In the Vietnamese metropolis, he and three other Asian cardinals celebrated a mass in remembrance of the birth of Saint Francis Xavier, protector of missions, who was born 500 years ago.
Card Jeanne Baptiste Pham Minh, archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, invited Card Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, bishop of Hong Kong; Card Gaudencio Rosales, bishop of Manila; and Card Telesphore Toppo, bishop of Ranchi, to a meeting from December 2 to 4.
“The four cardinals,” Cardinal Toppo said, “represent four different ways to bear witness of the Church in the most populous continent in the world. They met to remember and underline the importance of the life and the mission of Saint Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Orient”.
“This trip was charged with political significance,” he explained. “Communist political leaders joined about 1,200 worshippers in the Sunday ceremony. Vietnam’s president had also expressed a desire to meet us but did not have enough time to do so.”
In addition to this, the prelate noted that “the strength of the communion of the Asian Church with the Universal Church has never been as present as in this trip. Cardinal Minh’s invitation showed that every obstacle can be surmounted and that the Church, even when it is subjected to violent persecution, remains vital in Christ.”
To this effect, Cardinal Toppo said he was “impressed by the vitality of Vietnamese Catholics. Despite the persecution they suffered I saw so many young people, devotion and a sincere love in the population. And this struck me very much. The Vietnamese Church is one of the most dynamic in the world.”
Finally, the prelate added that “our meeting shows John Paul II’s foresight when he said that Asia ‘was our common task for the third millennium’. Now it is our task to show that mission and communion amongst all the faithful of the Church can lead to a better and freer society.”
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