Asia’s Catholic leaders called on Churches across the region to launch “pastoral actions” to address challenges facing Asia, such as the climate crisis and the situation of migrants and refugees.
In its “final document” following its general conference in Thailand in October, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) urged Churches and Church leaders to go “off the beaten track” and to “face new pastoral priorities.”
The document was presented online on Wednesday, March 15, five months after the general conference in October to mark FABC’s 50th year.
The so-called “Bangkok Document” brings together reflections shared by participants of the conference, an event that Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, FABC president, described as “a watershed for the journey of the Churches of Asia.”
He said the gathering in October that brought together 226 lay people, consecrated men and women, priests, bishops, archbishops, major archbishops, and cardinals from 17 episcopal conferences and two synods of Oriental Churches in Asia was “a dialogue in solidarity and collegiality.”
Cardinal Bo said the “Bangkok Document” aims to translate into the life of the communities the discussions during the meeting that carried the theme “Journeying together as Peoples of Asia.”
The document invites the Church in Asia to return to the people “by another road” like what the Wise Men who came from the East did after meeting with Jesus in Bethlehem.