日本教会邀请教宗访问"来给我们新福传的力量"
东京（亚洲新闻）-日本教会"强烈渴望善度教宗方济各为普世教会指出的使命、希望在日本迎接她的牧人从而从他那里得到推动新福传事业所必要的力量和恩宠"。这是日本东京总主教区总主教，日本主教团主席冈田武夫蒙席在正式邀请教宗方济各访问日本的信中所表达的意愿。强调日本教会"深知教宗十分繁忙，但仍希望教宗能够考虑这一诚挚的邀请"。
从巴西里约热内卢返回罗马的专机上，教宗曾表示将于二O一四年访问亚洲。韩国大邱总主教区总主教告诉本社，已经向教宗发出了正式邀请。斯里兰卡、菲律宾也已经纷纷表示希望教宗对他们的国家进行牧灵访问。日本驻圣座大使馆参赞告诉本社，东京政府的"正式邀请还没有发出，但只是时间问题，政府会支持主教的要求"。
冈田武夫总主教邀请函全文如下：
Your Holiness, Pope Francis,
The hearts of all the faithful in the Church of Japan are deeply appreciative that, beginning with your election as the successor of Peter in March,Your Holiness has guided our worldwide Church with a breath of new life.
We, the Church of Japan, invite you Holy Father, as the Vicar of Christ, as the Head of the Bishops, as the Shepherd of the Universal Church who leads the People of God, to visit Japan so that the people may hear directly from you the Gospel message of God's love and life and receive your blessing. By this letter, I as the President of the Bishops' Conference of Japan, with the support of the entire Bishops' Conference, humbly and respectfully request that Your Holiness come to visit Japan.
We, the Church of Japan, strongly desire to dialogue and live, together with you Holy Father, the heartfelt mission that you have so strongly emphasized, namely, that we be a Church that lives together with the poor. In addition, through your visit Holy Father, the Church of Japan fervently hopes to receive from God our Father, the strength and grace needed to undertake the New Evangelization. Therefore, we will surely welcome a visit by you Holy Father with great joy.
Holy Father, we know that you are very busy with your holy ministry, but by all means, we ask that you kindly consider this sincere request from the Church of Japan.
With thanks for your understanding and guidance and prayerful best wishes, I am
Yours devotedly in Our Lord,
Peter Takeo Okada
President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan
Catholic Archbishop of Tokyo
