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| Plane Root of Holy Father, when flew over India |
If someone asks me,
what you think about the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Asia? My answer
would be: Let there be Hope. So far His Holiness has done seven ApostolicVisits. It is remarkable that two of
them were to Asia. It was a blessed moment for Indians, when the
Papal plan flew over India on Jan 13. In
August 2014, when His Holiness attended the 06th Asian YouthDay in South Korea, the theme was: “Asian Youth! Wake up” which substitutes to
“Arise and Shine”. In January 2015, visit to Sri Lanka and Philippines were
concentrated on: Reconciliation & Dialogue and Mercy & Compassion, respectively.
In the first Visit to
Asia, the focus was on youth. In the concluding Holy Mass, Pope Francis
challenged the youngsters to live in a Christian discipleship,
“Young people of Asia: you are the heirs of a great testimony, a precious witness
to Christ. He is the light of the world; he is the light of our lives! The
martyrs of Korea – and innumerable others throughout Asia – handed over their
bodies to their persecutors; to us they have handed on a perennial witness that
the light of Christ’s truth dispels all darkness, and the love of Christ is
gloriously triumphant….Let Christ turn your natural optimism into Christian
hope, your energy into moral virtue, your good will into genuine
self-sacrificing love! This is the path you are called to take”.
In Sri Lanka at the
shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, Pope advocated the need of reconciliation, “May
all people find here inspiration and strength to build a future of
reconciliation, justice and peace for all the children of this beloved
land”. At the same time, in Philippines, Pope Francis concentrated on
Mercy Compassion: “I invite each one of you to ask yourselves, ‘Have I learned
how to weep, how to cry when I see a hungry child, a child on the street who
uses drugs, a homeless child, an abandoned child, an abused child, a child that
society uses as a slave’?” So these statements in different corners of
Asia, point towards the fact that there is a great optimism for the Universal
Church on each Catholic to live a life of inspiration, reconciliation and compassion
to seek and spread the Kingdom of God. And that is Hope.